My greatest wish for 2019

Dec 30, 2018 Features / Columnists, My Column

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The older I get, the more I seem to attract the dislike of some people who do not even know me. Of course this is nothing new, dating back to the days when I was the editor of New Nation, the organ of the People’s National Congress.
I used my skills as a reporter to bring the stories to the world. Some of these stories did not find favour with the political opposition, largely because the reporting was factual. More often than not, people do not like to hear about their shortcomings. They feel exposed.
As the years went by, I simply faded into my little world. I kept reporting, but the dislike kept following me. There were people who described me as a dyed-in-the-wool PNC, as though being such was a plague. Even the Opposition Leader took time off at a recent press conference to target me, not that it bothered me.
I am what I am. I like people regardless of their political affiliation, and those who met me would attest to that. I remember when I became a member of the Kaieteur News staff. There were people who tried to pressure Glenn Lall to part company with me.
Just a few days ago I was invited to a home, but I never took up that invitation because of a misunderstanding. Perhaps it was good that I did not go, because I was a topic for discussion. There was this man accusing me of all manner of things under the sun. He had to be corrected in no small measure. But the dislike is still there. Some things simply do not disappear.
Stuck in my mind was a chat on computer. It was 2011 and the country was awaiting the results of the elections. I told the woman with whom I was chatting that there would be a minority government. So said, so done.
Nearly four years later there was a similar conversation with the same woman. She asked about the 2015 elections results and I told her that I could not offer a prediction. She told the world on Facebook that I was spot on in 2011 and got the response from a young man I never met that he did not like Adam Harris.
When I joined Evening News in 1993 the outlet was housed below Guyenterprise. I remember Tony Vieira, the head of Evening News, saying to me that we had to move. He said that Vic Insanally told him that he was uncomfortable having me around.
The closest brush I had with Vic was when he taught French at Queen’s College shortly after he left school. Then in 1992 he brokered my departure from the Guyana Chronicle. He promised that I would get all my benefits, a promise that he couldn’t and never kept.
Fact of the matter is, I care not. I don’t walk with a begging bowl. Ever since 1992 I never received a token from any government. Life has been good to me, though. So here I am after all these years, away from the political circle but still being disliked by people who support the political opposition. I must be doing something good.
Meanwhile, I sit here awaiting the dawn of the New Year, noting the same things that came to my mind last year and some years before that.
As sure as night follows day, many people will welcome the New Year, but will not live to see the end of it. Strange though it may seem, for the most part, there are often no road fatalities until after the first week of the year. People soon forget their promises and lapse into old ways.
There will be the murders as tempers flare. No longer are people able to reason, so they kill. Some are brave to end their lives while others flee to live like beasts, constantly looking over their shoulders.
The dawn of the New Year always something exciting. I remember the times when I went to those Old Year’s Night parties. Everyone counted the minutes to the dawn of the New Year. Love bloomed or was rekindled. Alcohol flowed and tongues were relaxed. There were the resolutions.
Resolutions are good things. They force people to look at their shortcomings and promise to correct them. Sadly, man is a creature of habit. He does not easily relinquish those things to which he has grown accustomed.
After a few days he would simply lapse into his old habits. I remember people promising to stop doing things like smoking. Some do. Others after a few days, simply lapse into the habit.
There is another habit that comes to the surface whenever there are elections. All through the years people would live in peace with neighbours. There is a lot of tolerance and even camaraderie. Elections change these.
The recently departed American Ambassador, Perry Holloway, at his last press conference in Guyana, said that at first glance no one would detect any hint of racism. He talked about the relationships he saw in the market place and even on the streets.
The elections come and things change radically. 2019 will be no different. People will drift apart like iron filings reacting to a magnet. Battle lines would be drawn.
I saw those battle lines repeatedly in the past. In the 1960s they resulted in the death of more than a hundred people. Sometimes they led to the destruction of property. Fear became a constant companion.
We should all make a resolution to let racial tolerance take precedence over whatever seeks to prevail. That would be my greatest wish for 2019.

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