May God in his mercy grant us his saving grace

Mar 12, 2020 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

Beneath the surface calm of tense watching and impatient waiting, I detect that there are massive undercurrents of matters creeping-perhaps, already firmly positioned-towards the worst, most unaffordable place that we could find ourselves in at this hard, ominous hour. The reports from the ground confirm these in most alarming terms. I caution that we are going down a bad road, one from which reversal and return may be taken out of our hands because by then it may too late.
I owe a strong duty to family, community, and country to be careful and circumspect in what I present today, to be responsible and sensible. My choice of words is going to be even more subtle than usual. Both sides appear to be gearing up for what they may be unable to manage, or control, should the dams of provocation and anticipation succumb to the unrelenting pressures to which they are subject. There are no naïve ones or no innocents in this regard; and this is applicable equally to both sides of the now insoluble political equation, and at the levels of headmen and field superintendents and foot followers. There is none that can pretend to not be so alert, so committed, so ready to engage in what could lead to the brink of the self-defeating.
In many communities, there is an edge, a nervous energy that cannot be concealed, with different groups approaching and testing to ascertain how much could be gotten away with right now. There is assembling in small teams to rouse up the likeminded and push the uncommitted; there is congregating of larger groups, well and appropriately attired, in postures that are of warning, of intimidation, and of serious intents. Some of this readiness is not in private, but in full public view, as in villages and out on widely used thoroughfares. The tensions are palpable, the fevers that grip could be felt from a distance. The body temperatures and body languages are unmistakable: we are ready, we stand poised to take things to the next steps. That step, none of them, bodes well for the wider wellbeing of this stricken society. There is a strain of eagerness, a tangible reckless, an undeniable dangerousness that courses through the words expressed, the attitudes exhibited, and the passions put on display.
All of this is occurring in different camps throughout this country, against the backdrops and the mechanics-maybe the motions-of High Court review, calls for adherence to this or that process, and insistence on or rejection of one or another forms of tabulation, making the rounds. I am asking myself if, in the larger picture, the grand scheme of things relative to Elections 2020, these exercises in protocol and escalations do mean anything authentic. If, at the cores of the competing ambitions and visions that collide within the increasingly narrow confines of time and space, that there is any interest left in exploring what is available for providing some civilized and restraining redress. To be frank, I do not think so.
Although I wish that they were genuine, I cannot help but interpreting and believing that what we have, at present, are the compounding interludes and the structured movements that are precursors to the inevitable. For as I have long been saying in every forum, and at every opportunity, there cannot be two winners, there is no such thing as a tie. It is imperative, therefore, that the greatest degree of patriotism, of statesmanship, dominate our thinking, our outlooks, and our proceedings. Yet I sense, also, that I am screaming into the wind through appeals that return rapidly to plaster me with my unacceptable exhortations, which bounce off the hardest of heads and the coldest of minds. Nobody from any side has any interest; none manifests the least sign of receptivity to such overtures. And that is what has seized us by the scruffs of our political leaderships (and supporters) necks and shakes us into the hysterias and frenzies that have been compelled to beat a momentary tactical retreat.
In view of what I hear, what I see and sense, and what has come to me, I believe that we are already standing on a road that cannot bear the accumulated weights of emotions and expectations. Something has to give, and the direction which looks most likely is what I find extremely troubling. This I don’t like. Regrettably, this is where I think that all roads lead. I am hoping against hope that some last minute sanity, some iota of wisdom, will be found and made to prevail. We will be tested this time like never before in our short and sorry history. And, the worst of it, is I think that we do not, we cannot, fathom the full implications of what and where we rear to go. May God in his mercy grant us his saving grace.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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