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Stairway to Heaven

Jun 03, 2018 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I learnt from a tender age that music is a universal language. Music transcends age, cultures, and borders. I was young, in 1971, when one of the greatest pop songs ever written came out; Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” No matter what cultural background you come from, you will appreciate this fine, philosophical reflection.
The song has been covered countless times but strangely, the version I like is by a not so known reggae singer, Ed Robinson. His arrangement is superb and the drumming sequences add to its sweetness. I go on the beach almost every day with my dog, and this week I was playing Robinson on what is now an outdated gadget – the discman. While looking at the ocean and listening three times to “Stairway to Heaven,” I got the idea for this column about Guyana.
“Stairway to Heaven” is about the mental fascination that money can give you everything you want. In the end, you will painfully realize that it is all an illusion. The lyrics of “Stairway to Heaven” are vividly relevant to Guyana, as we are on the verge of the flow of oil money. You sense that our leaders are emotionally banking on this panacea. It will wipe away in one stroke, all the ills of seventy years.
With this expectation is born a parallel expectation – the one from the citizens themselves. They too believe that they will climb the stairway to heaven, a pathway that was always within grasp, only to recede, thus has tormented our souls like Tantalus in Greek mythology; so close yet so far away. This time oil will provide us with the ladder to reach heaven. Oil will unshackle Prometheus. So there are two stairways – the one from the elites, the other from the citizens.
When oil flows, only one ladder to the stars will be there. It won’t be the one for the population. It is a fool’s dream to think the average citizen is on the road to paradise with oil money. Oh, sure, the money will come, but it will not go to the average man and woman. Their stairway to heaven will be on the whispering wind. The other heaven will be enjoyed by the elites who will spend the benefits of black gold as if it is their own.
I see not one encouraging sign from the government in power that oil wealth will benefit the poor, the working classes and the lower middle income strata. This is because I see how money is being spent. It is lavished on projects that have no impact on the diminution of poverty.
I wrote before in a column on how oil money will be used and I am repeating it here. The elites in power will luxuriate. There will be ostentatious spending on SUVs, luxurious expansion of State buildings, high-flying trips to exotic places. To the man and woman in the street, my advice is stop dreaming about the stairway to heaven that you think oil money will bring you. Here are some relevant lines from the song:

“There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed.
With a word she can get what she came for.
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.

There’s a sign on the wall, but she wants to be sure
‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook, there’s a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiving.

There’s a feeling I get when I look to the west
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who stand looking.
Ooh, it makes me wonder
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

And it’s whispered that soon, if we all call the tune.
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long,
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There’s still time to change the road you’re on.
And it makes me wonder.

Your head is humming and it won’t go, in case you don’t know,
The piper’s calling you to join him,
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind?

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show.
How everything still turns to gold.”

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