Societal Decline

May 05, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

Too often while doing my routine browsing of the online press, I am shaken by the reportage of gruesome diverse murders stretching from interior towns, mining areas and the coastland. Simple coping mechanisms to resolve issues seem to be dwindling. Some murders such in a simple robbery baffle the mind. Why? I don’t have all the answers. But what is happening in Guyana appears to be mirror image of what is taking place in the US especially in New York City.
Such pattern of depraved behaviour is one of the markers of the true health of a nation.
In 1967 a regular columnist Lucian made an “unbearable disgust” reference which alluded to deep structural malady; also documented in the Integrity Commission Report, which concluded: “Guyana needs a new moral vitality. A fresh flow of values must now be infused into the life-stream of society, revitalising its sinews. Indiscipline, inattention, discourtesy, all symptoms of malaise, of inertia, fraud and other corrupt, immoral and dishonest acts – the cumulative effect of all these social ills, which are manifest in the public sector bodies seriously hinders progress.” (quoted from Cheddi Jagan: Forbidden Freedom)
Now I see a darker side emerging somewhat similar to the Report – a streak of misanthropic individualism which mocks the efforts of others who strive to engender a more amiable and sustainable life for all.
I venture to say that if we examine our deepest beliefs, you will find that we are basically governed by a spirit of mutual respect and good will towards one another. And we share many precepts of universal good behaviour. One observes this every day when people of diverse backgrounds tell of their aspirations, their concern for their family, their love and pain – which are common to all humanity. Our code of behaviour – call it ethics – that we share globally is due in the main to a sense of decency – reason, common law, honour, respect. We are more similar than dissimilar. Every person strives for the same imperatives of security, freedom, dignity, apart from the basic fundamentals of life – roti, capra aur makan.
Let us strive for and share a collective dream of a lost agreeable nirvana. “All are involved”; otherwise “all are consumed”.

Yours truly,
Gary Girdhari

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