Guyanese must rise

Mar 31, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News  – In the belief of the major entities in the Christian denomination, Jesus is Risen on this day.  When he rose, he gave great hope to people everywhere.  Most of all, he gave them something to hold onto.  Those who have been cast to the peripheries, those beaten down by time and circumstances, those who have no voice, no standing, no power.  Of a better life that is to come.  Of what is now possible.  But first, it is of the quality of the life that is to be lived in the here and now by believers, and those who try to follow in his footsteps.  Whether a believer or not, and one does not have to be a follower, the timeless teachings, the revolutionary thinking, that came from Jesus have to do with being a good neighbor, the best one possible.  One devoted to simple truths: there are no enemies, including the unlovable and the utterly detestable.  And there must be a place in our hearts and our visions to embrace even the worst among us.  And, from my way of thinking, it is of using the skills and talents that one is given, via the doors opened with opportunity for profound things beckoning, to make a difference, to be that agent for change.  To be a messenger that is honest and trusted.  To refine myself continually to be an instrument of whatever is the will of forces beyond my control or comprehension.

At the most basic level, it is as Jesus Christ has Risen, so must I rise in the work I do here in this pale.  There must be the willingness to allow his commandments to carry me to places that I would never have believed myself capable of reaching.  As I crawl and creep, fight off the inner limitations that threaten to slowdown, and struggle to get off the ground, it must be done so that my fellow Guyanese are lifted with me.  Incredible as this may sound, it is my duty (self-appointed, of course) to do my utmost to reach out to President Irfaan Ali and his own people, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and his broad squad of loyalists, and Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton and his folks, and do as much as can be done by a simple man to help them to rise.  Jesus is Risen.  I am trying to rise out of the quagmire that is Guyana.  And, by God, they must rise too.  What am I, if not my brother’s keeper?  And if I cannot cut through the negatives and the smog of local wars to find that quiet ground of clarity and peace, then where am I and who I am?

When our leaders, the three I identified, rise, then Guyanese of all persuasions, of all visions, of all convictions, are given a chance to rise also.  We have this God-given bounty (pardon is pleaded of atheists and agnostics), and it must be the dynamo that powers our rising.  As a people, as a nation, as the owner of treasures.  As a society that is given its fair due, a set of citizens is treated on a principled basis.  We have the natural components that must make possible our rising as individuals, and as a collective.  Now, in the spirit of Easter, sacrifices must be made so that there can be a rising of the people of this nation out of the darkness and dispirited state in which they have been locked forever.  Jesus was that rarest of leaders: he came out of nothing, walked and worked with nothing, and out of nothing, he left all of us great somethings.  Jesus was and is of the intangible.  Ours right here in Guyana is tangible, in that it can be seen and scented and touched.  Therefore, it must be tasted, and that long sweet taste must not be long in coming.

Our leaders must rise, and how.  Theirs must be the courage to grapple with the forces and powers arrayed against them and believe enough in themselves that they can succeed.  Again, this must be emphasized: sacrifices will have to be made.  For sure, some will be severe, maybe even rise to the soaring height of the supreme one.  I believe that President Ali, VP Jagdeo, Opposition Leader Norton all have it in them to take us to a new rung, a different space.  Let it be.  Let it be different than what has been, is what I insist to each of them, all three of them.  In the grandeur of Easter, we must give to get someplace.  And if this means giving up friends, giving up on the pull of present or future ambitions, and giving up what holds every rich prospect of making ourselves flourish, then it is what must be.  It must be if there will be a Guyana that is rising.

For Guyana to rise, leaders must cut through the thickets of resistance (and their own fears) and clear a pathway for all of us to walk in hope, with a new spring in our step.  At its core, in its essence, that is rising.  Rising from where we are as Guyanese, to where we must be as Guyanese.  It is what is nonnegotiable.  A rising tide lifts all boats.  Jesus rose and lifted me up out of the thickest darkness.  Verily, it is my sworn duty to lift up Irfaan Ali, Bharrat Jagdeo, and Aubrey Norton.  If nobody else sees merit in this, I do.  When they rise, all Guyana rises.  Jesus did it and left a legacy for people like me.  Part of my gift is to give to my fellow citizens, regardless of blow, whatever the price, notwithstanding the pain.  Jesus has risen through it all.  So, must Guyana.

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• GHK Lall, Guyanese

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