It was a dream that had to end

Jul 29, 2015 Letters

Dear Editor,
If only Guyana can come together like it does at cricket games. Never before have I ever seen a more beautiful and comforting picture of Guyanese coming together as “One People, One Nation and One Destiny” from various political, racial, religious, economic and social backgrounds, like I saw at the cricket game.
I have never seen it at church, Masjid, Mandir, football games, parliament, concerts, the President’s inauguration, or any other event.
During the recent Guyana Amazon Warriors versus theTrinidad and Tobago Red Steel Cricket game, the announcer asked the spectators to turn to the person on their left and right and tell them, “I love you.” And Strangers were telling each other that they love them.” If only, this can happen everyday, Guyana would be a more blessed country.
I saw all races, religions, and classes celebrating and having fun together. I saw joy and hope in the people’s eyes.
I saw a lot of intoxicated people. I heard loud noises, a lot of loud noises and laughter.
And I felt hope for our cricket team and our country’s future. I felt love in the air and all around and everywhere. I inhaled the fragrance of, and tasted, delicious food.
But there were two distasteful aspects of the event that must be mentioned. The first were the women cheerleaders who were dressed provocatively and dancing sensually; it is simply overdoing it.
The other experience involved the two 14-year-old girls who were sitting next to me drinking alcohol, which they bought themselves.
These experiences were quite troubling and disturbing to me because when minor girls consume alcohol it can put them in great danger of becoming victims of sexual abuse.
These teenagers couldn’t wait to reach the legal age to start drinking; they wanted to start now.
But who can blame them, when they were surrounded by so many people around them imbibing alcohol? The temptation to not drink alcohol was too much for them to resist.
As a responsible citizen, I tried to do my part to help prevent these teenagers from getting into a life of drinking alcohol, so I reported them to one of the stadium’s security personnel hoping she would talk to the girls of the negative consequences of underage drinking.
She came and checked on the girls to see if they were imbibing alcohol. After she confirmed that they were drinking alcohol, she returned to her post and continued watching the game.
As if to say to me, she sees nothing wrong with underage girls buying and imbibing alcohol.
If only we were our brother’s and sister’s keeper, this wouldn’t have happened. What would be the future of this country when 14 year olds are allowed to drink alcohol knowing that the consumption of alcohol is destroying the moral fabric of our society.
And knowing that no one will do anything to stop them?
Then I wonder what would happen after the game is over.
One young man said to me after the game, “All awe ah Guyanese.” I was hoping that he was saying to me that we as a nation will come together after the game.
After the game, I wanted to know if we were going to return to our same old lives of racial, political, and economic divisions, sowing discord and hatred.
Are we going to return to our segregated communities, homes, churches, Masjids and Mandirs and forget the special moments we shared during the game?
The joy, laughter, love and hope we felt and the common goal: to defeatTrinidad and Tobago.
But I was only dreaming. The truth is that after the game, we will return to our segregated lives. It is what we know, perhaps what we like, too.
Anthony Pantlitz

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