Accession to office does grant us divine rights ignoring all others

Sep 26, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

Is it a human flaw, an inherited foible of mankind or is it a curse on a so-called modern man?

I refer to evidence which is abundant that intelligent leaders everywhere regardless of continent fail to learn from the available lessons of recent history and the human suffering that is a consequence of leaders feeling that their way is the only way.

This attitude has led to the destruction of property including great works of art but even more the death of millions of human beings and unnecessary sufferings of innocent millions.

And the question we must ask today with all of the advances in science, technology and communication, is if this stupidity among leaders everywhere will be a constant feature of humanity until as some religious folks believe, we’ll face that day of judgement.

One hundred years ago, this month and this week, Turkish nationalist troops, under the command of Mustapha Kemal Pasha, soundly defeated Greek forces and drove them out of Asia Minor. One of the Turk’s greatest victories was recapturing the city of Smyrna. Greek leaders attempted to arrange a truce and a cease-fire, even as King Constantine was forced to flee his throne.

As we go off to our weekend and we listen to news items from the global networks, there are fears of World War III. With improved weaponry developed over the years, any war involving the great powers will be catastrophic and no matter how far we are from the theatres of battle, we will be affected in some way or the other, but let us hope that for the sake of all of us that wiser counsels would prevail.

My great concern is that small countries, far away from the present, Russian – Ukraine situation, pontificate without knowing as we say the whole story. This approach simply is what we say ‘stoking a fire,’ instead of exerting our energies for reconciliation and peace.

In Guyana, our Political leaders on all sides of the divide should extract available lessons from the past and avoid the many catastrophes we have had to endure in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas over the past few generations.

The million-dollar question is when will we learn? Why not opt to indulge in civilised dialogue instead of behaving as though accession to office grants us divine rights ignoring all others.
To all of our leaders I say, let’s have a thoughtful weekend and be true to the pledges given.

Hamilton Green

Elder

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