Latest update December 20th, 2024 4:27 AM

Guyana's largest selling daily and New York's most popular weekly

Latest News

The stranger next door

Apr 09, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

As late as the early 1970s, when night fell, dinner consumed and the children completed their homework, members of the household would usually sit either in the sitting room or on the verandah and discuss various matters, but mainly the events of the day. In those days there was no television and for news we relied upon the radio.
But that was not the only source of information. Those members of the household who worked would return with their own stories and the tidbits of information they had picked up. Even the housewives who went to the market would also return with stories they had heard.
At nights, families would sit together and share these stories. They would also find some time to read or play cards before retiring. These activities tended to bond the household and provided an environment in which everyone looked out for his or her own family.
Sometimes while chatting on the verandah, you would look over and see your neighbour and his family doing the same. And you would exchange greetings and even discuss matters without having to leave your home.
That was one of the benefits of living in a traditional society. Everyone within a street knew each other. And within the home there were hardly any secrets. Even when there was the odd dispute, there was no shortage of people to bring the two disputants together.
There was also a strong sense of community. In any village, everyone got to know the other. Even within the towns, it was unusual for a resident to not know the households on the streets in which he or she lived. Thus, if someone had a problem he could always appeal to his neighbours for support, which was almost always forthcoming.
Such, also, were the benefits of living in a traditional society.
There are many reasons why Guyanese survived the hard times of the late seventies and eighties. One of those reasons was due to the free exchange of information that took place within communities.
If, for example, the then Guyana Stores would be selling cooking oil the following day and someone in the street got wind of this, that person would not keep this information to himself, but would pass it on to his or her neighbours.
And if one member was short of a scarce commodity and another had, you could bet the latter would share with the person in need. This was the sort of system that helped to sustain Guyanese during the hard guava season.
With economic liberalisation, things began to change.  Liberalism is underpinned by the philosophy of personal initiative: that a man or a woman can become whatever he or she wants through his or her own effort.
Economic liberalism placed the interests of the community as secondary to the individual. What developed was a rat race, whereby everyone tried to improve his or her own lot, without regard to the overall benefit of the community.
In the process, social and communal ties which had helped to sustain us for so long began to fall apart. Communities became highly impersonal. And with this impersonality, residents have become strangers in their own villages.
People do not mix as before. They also do not lend that degree of support that once existed. And this is one of the main reasons why each day, we can pick up the newspaper and be horrified at what we read.
Each day we read about fights within villages, about one person stabbing another over something trivial, of rat poison being forced down the throat of children, of neighbour breaking into the home of neighbour and of friends betraying the trust of each other.
Attempts can be made to reverse these negative trends through the strengthening of community ties, but this task will always remain difficult if liberalisation continues to be the guiding philosophy within the country.
Everything cannot be left to the invisible hand of the market.
We have got to return to those values which existed in an earlier time, a time before television, when family members sat together and shared their experiences, their dreams and their fears, a time when a neighbour would come running to your rescue without being asked, and a time when having more than your neighbour was not that important.

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | December, 2nd, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

 

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

India produce dominant 60-run win over West Indies to claim 2-1 T20I series victory in Mumbai

India produce dominant 60-run win over West Indies to claim 2-1 T20I...

Dec 20, 2024

SportsMax – The West Indies will have to wait a bit longer for their first T20 International series win over India since 2017 after they were defeated by 60 runs in the Thursday’s decisive...
Read More
Guyanese athletes make mark at second Kares Cross Fit Caribbean event in Suriname

Guyanese athletes make mark at second Kares Cross...

Dec 20, 2024

Minister Ramson tables historic Guyana Horse Racing Authority Bill

Minister Ramson tables historic Guyana Horse...

Dec 20, 2024

Trophy Stall on board with Petra-KFC Goodwill Series 2024

Trophy Stall on board with Petra-KFC Goodwill...

Dec 20, 2024

Topp XX and Winners Connection seeking quarterfinals berth as six matches carded

Topp XX and Winners Connection seeking...

Dec 20, 2024

GFF and MEYBA launch new kits to unite Guyanese fans and boost team performance

GFF and MEYBA launch new kits to unite Guyanese...

Dec 20, 2024

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.

Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]