There is no time like this

Dec 24, 2014 Editorial

The smells coming from almost all homes at this time of the year tell a story. It is a story about having the best that the year has given us. Many of us saved all through the year just for this festive period, to make those in our family circle happy, just as our parents made us happy.
Some among us are affluent and it never fails to warm the heart to see these people taking cheer to the less fortunate among us.
People have come from overseas because they have discovered that there is no Christmas like a Guyanese Christmas. Some have never forgotten their roots and took hampers to the various Homes and Senior Citizens’ facilities. There were cases when many pooled their resources to undertake this achievement.
Everyone with the wherewithal recognizes that Christmas is the season for giving and those who need expect to receive. For this reason, shippers gear their operations to cater for the massive shipments of barrels and parcels from their relatives in North America. And for their part, the North American relatives know that they are expected to ship something home for this season.
This year is no different from previous years. The decorations are simply overwhelming and the remittances seem to be pouring in. Nothing stops the myriad Guyanese from traveling from wherever they went to earn what they believe they should.
Airlines are of course booked to capacity. People coming to Guyana cannot get flights. In fact, this has been the case from time immemorial.
Guyana is what it always has been, a hospitable country, a country where everybody knows everybody else; where people meet and fraternise at this time of the year, even if they had never met in the past.
Not all of us have been fortunate enough to have a blessed and Merry Christmas. Some of us would be spending the season minus a member who has passed on.
We are known as a people to rally round those who experience some misfortune. We give of our little to make them share the season. It is a pity that such a spirit cannot prevail throughout the year.
There are those among us who have felt the wrath of the unrelenting criminals in our midst. These criminals are people who refuse to contribute meaningfully to the society but who believe that theirs is the right to prey on people who worked all year to make this season the joy it is for many of us.
The irony is that many of us know them, but we seem to lack the determination to have them behave as responsible citizens. Some of us encourage them by promoting the view that there is no work and that people must live by whatever means. There was a time when people created employment for themselves by pursuing honourable practices. Our businessmen are products of those pursuits. So too are our artisans and our other skilled personnel.
True, not all of us are skilled and not all of us have the business acumen, but all of us can undertake meaningful activities. We note that the crime is not confined to one community. No longer is Georgetown the crime capital, as the people of Berbice and other parts of the coast are finding out.
This needs to change. In the same way we embrace each other to celebrate what is unquestionably the most anticipated season on earth; we must embrace the culture of protecting our community against the people who would want to harm those in our midst.
As we celebrate in the coming days, let us do whatever we do in moderation because our indiscretion could lead to grief of people we certainly do not want to hurt.

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