Prayer and Change, not Dantean Darkness

Aug 31, 2014 News

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By Dennis A. Nichols
“Do you pray for the senators, Dr. Hale?” “No, I look at the senators and I pray for the country.” – American historian, Edward Hale.
I recall almost five decades ago the swell of nationalistic pride that infected so many of us, as independence dawned on British Guiana, in the aftermath of the early ‘sixties upheaval. Our advance to republic status came four years later. But I also recall the quiet and pensive voice of my father, warning of misdirected hope as the cacophony of exuberant shouts reverberated across Georgetown in 1966, and in 1970. Today, in Guyana, we may substitute ‘our leaders, for ‘the senators’ in the quote above. And many have hopefully, and resignedly, turned to prayer.

I was raised to believe in a higher power and to pray to such an omnipotence, something that has been expressed by human beings everywhere for millennia. We do so in an attempt to understand and counteract the perception of evil in our world. A handful of countries in Asia, Africa, South America and the Caribbean seem to be in special need of divine petition as they endure the angst of natural and man-made catastrophes. ‘Little’ Guyana finds herself nestled uncomfortably and unnaturally amongst them.
In a recent article, Freddie Kissoon alluded to Dante’s Inferno as he observed that life in Guyana seems to be a kind of Gothic horror tale. Too extreme for me, since at one point, that epic poem indirectly warns “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” an inscription Dante notes as he passes through the gate of Hell. Surely, it’s not that bad! But, as I reflect on the social, political and economic perplexities that abound in our land, I have to pause, and ponder if we really have descended that far into darkness. Again I hear my father’s voice, and now it intermingles with the voices of my people, some of whom are indeed abandoning all hope.
The majority of Guyanese subscribe to some form of religious belief or thought. We cling to our beliefs, pray, and wait for divine intervention in personal crises and in the affairs of national life. But not many of us actively involve ourselves in transformational change in our society; I’m talking about the kind of change initiated or wrought by mere humans like Luther, Gandhi, Teresa of Calcutta, MLK, and Mandela. Then of course there’s probably the most renowned exemplar of them all, the man Jesus – Jehovah God incarnate to his followers. (How his life and teachings have been used as counterpoint to human failure is the interest of another article)
Now I suppose that many government and civic leaders do not subscribe to a singular religious faith, especially in a multicultural country like ours, or if they do, it’s a personal thing. Do we know for example what were/are the religious convictions, if any, of Jagan, Burnham, Hoyte, Jagdeo or Ramotar? And do they matter? (I believe thousands of Guyanese would answer a resounding ‘Yes’) But if they did, would it have influenced their policies, choices etc… What about the legislature and judiciary? And what if we had leaders like The Bahamas’ Perry Christie and Hubert Ingraham who publicly admit their Christian faith and encourage Christian values among Bahamians to the apparent exclusion of others?
A point which should be noted here is that leaders in a supposedly democratic government can hardly be expected to force or to legislate religious/moral values on people apart from general principles of decency and socially-accepted behaviour. Care has to be taken not to offend a specific religion, denomination or group, even in a relatively homogeneous Christian community like The Bahamas, where crime and immorality appear to be as worrisome to the majority of Bahamians as they are to us here.
Prayer is a universal religious practice of entreaty to a higher being, whether it be the Christian’s Lord’s Prayer, the Buddhist Refuge Prayer, Islam’s Al-Fatiha, Hinduism’s Gayatri Mantra, Judaism’s Shema affirmation, or the thousands of personal petitions pled before a Deity. Who prays? People like us, the masses, searching for the reason and answers to human misery. Many say it works; some say it doesn’t! I say when we as a global community seem to be failing ourselves, why not look to one which is beyond human power, regardless of how inscrutable it appears.
I said that Freddie’s reference to ‘Dantean’ darkness, describing the chaos in our country, is too extreme for me. Hell? No! I see our darkness more as a mixture of base corruption, mismanagement and unprofessionalism, a pyramidal debasement of national life that permeates every stratum of our society. It means that we, the common folk, are part of this debasement if for no other reason than for allowing it to happen because of the very composition of our selfish human nature. But a problem begs a solution, and we can be part of that too. It isn’t hopeless.
Can we compare our darkness to that of some countries in Europe, Africa, India, and the Middle East, past and present? Did we have ‘leaders’ with the savage artistry of Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot or Idi Amin? Did we come close to the homicidal horror of Rwanda or the repugnant regimentation of North Korea? Have you read about the maniacal excesses of Roman emperors or the cruelty of the ‘Holy’ Inquisition? Pope Innocent the Third is quoted as saying, “Anyone who attempts to construe a personal view of God which conflicts with church dogma, must be burned without pity.” We have some way to go to get there.
Yes, there is horror in Guyana, but there is also hope. Wait, just yesterday I read that the People’s Progressive Party is meeting with ‘stakeholders’ and ‘interest groups’ to discuss the possibility of a National Democratic Front Alliance, ahead of probable general elections. Call me naïve, but who knows what 2015 holds for our dear El Dorado. And who knows what genuine prayer can do?

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