The Lion and the Mouse

Dec 28, 2018 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

When I was a little boy growing up, one of the adored bedtime stories that my grandmother often read to me was that of ‘the Lion and the Mouse’. Recent developments in Guyana brought back fresh memories of that story.
The mouse remained insignificant and even easy prey in the Lion’s eyes, until the day that a hunter’s net entrapped the Lion. It was the very insignificant mouse who was able to methodically bite a big enough hole in the hunter’s net, which enabled the lion’s escape.
In Guyana, many persons, their contributions, hints, tips or inputs are viewed as insignificant, simply because they may not hold fancy titles or are little known of. The usual retort is “who is he/she?”
This is too often the cited attitude of many lions and lionesses in Guyana. Some hold elevated positions in the corporate world, some in political offices, others in organizations, and even in religious groups. The hierarchies within those circles are suspects of an unpleasant trend, of which anything originating from the standpoint of perceived lesser mortals are almost immediately dismissed.
Guyana finds itself at a critical juncture today because of the failure to heed. What took place in our National Assembly on December 21, 2018, was no major surprise to some of us. For months there were warnings and indications of some evolving form of dissent from within.
Some individuals were just too busy with their own agendas to take heed to anything. Some were only prepared to hear those who aren’t considered or perceived ‘mice’, and even if they heard, listening and appropriately responding to ongoing murmurs or direct discussions were either half-heartedly slow or non-existent.
The intelligence capability of the government failed miserably. The attitude and perhaps even some individuals within the current government need to be changed immediately if they are serious about continuity. Much is at stake. The goodwill of government’s local and international support now hangs precariously in the balance because of their exposed vulnerability.
The story of the ‘Lion and the mouse’ is a timely reminder to the government that no one is insignificant, nor should anything be taken for granted.

Yours faithfully,
Orette Cutting

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