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The fate of loose societies

Feb 06, 2014 Editorial

The strength of any society depends on the relationship between the people in that society. In the ancient times communities trusted themselves and regarded outsiders with distrust. Many are the battles that erupted between communities. As could be expected the stronger communities won and those were the ones that shared close bonds either through a strong leader or because for the greater part everyone was related.
As the world expanded communities became nations and pretty soon there was need to establish bonds of unity, the need for the people to recognize that they were the ones who were responsible for holding the nation together. The result were symbols of nationhood—flags, anthems and coat of arms. These were carryovers from the days when kings and queens ruled the landscape.
Guyana, for all its independence and its symbols of nationhood, has never been a closely knit society. First, the ethnic divide made this almost impossible. To this day there is hatred between the various ethnic groups with the darkest of the races being reserved for the greatest hatred.
As a result the uncaring nature of the society came to the fore. People would see a neighbour being assaulted and would more often than not, withdraw to the confines of their homes. In rural Guyana where communities tended to be more tightly knit and this remains the case to this day, neighbours would readily respond to the plight of the other.
Many a thief came to realize this with anguish. In these days of guns many neighbours would not respond with the alacrity of those of yesteryear but cases of people leaving their homes with pieces of wood and cutlasses are not unheard of.
In the city where people have never really grown close to each other one sees the worse of human behavior at the best of times. Last week a young man climbed on the roof of a building in the city, threatening to commit suicide. Immediately a crowd gathered.
There were a few who hailed from rural communities who beseeched the young man to come down and to consider better options but there were those who invited him to jump, to stop playing games with his anti-man self. They shouted to the young man that he was bluffing.
It is now known that a policeman blindsided the young man and snatched him from the edge of the building, thus thwarting any possibility of suicide. Some may argue that the people who screamed at the young man to take the plunge might have been looking for some excitement in their lives. Had the young man jumped and pasted himself on the roadway below then these people would have had a talking point for the rest of their lives. However, most feel that these are the heartless among us.
There was a similar case the other day. A homeowner shot and killed a fifteen-year-old who had entered his house with two accomplices to commit a robbery. Some in the society said that the homeowner should have effected an arrest since the boy was only a kid who might have been misguided. But many said that the homeowner was within his rights; that today’s killers are all young men and they should be expunged from the face of the earth.
It may be that we have come to recognize that there are not too many helping hands out there so the ideal thing would be to keep to oneself. There would be less sharing and less association. This trend extends to the beggars and to strangers on the streets.
As is the case in the big cities we have learned to not see people, not even in our peripheral vision. This recognized by the criminals who now attack people in broad daylight knowing that the community is hardly likely to rush to help.

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