The ordinary man versus the wise men

May 21, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – There is something rather strange going on in Guyana today.  What makes it strange is that it is the reverse of the supposedly natural order of things.  The ordinary Guyanese man and woman are looking on, observing various developments and situations in their country and their government and opposition.  They don’t have access to much information, and even if they did, it is doubtful whether they have what is required to have the fullest understanding of what is before them.  The narratives and sophistications of the language may be way over their heads, their limited exposures.  The mathematics and the statistics and logic of one set of circumstances and another, and then the whole sum of them, are sure to be beyond their capabilities.  Such competencies were sketchy to begin with, all things considered, and with every benefit and edge given. In aggregate, these are the contexts of their handicaps, what they grapple with in this era of untold promised grandeur for every single Guyanese.  But the common citizen has something that is priceless, what cannot be matched, what is of a character all by itself, and in a class that cannot be bought or sold, nor pretended at, nor denied and suppressed.  It is the logic of commonsense.  The weighing of what is in the environment and arriving at a place of the highest wisdom: this can’t be right.  Just cannot be.  For they have the inbred honesty and simple decency to assess the situations, come to their own conclusions, and call things as they are.  Unaided.  Unfettered.  Unscripted.

They do not have the skills to do what some of their fellow citizens are doing through newspapers and networks.  But, in their hearts, they harbour thick perceptions of all that have gone wrong because they started out wrong, because original wrongs continue with baseless justifications that only make matters more wrong.  Indeed, more than a few allow themselves to be swayed by ties and allegiances.  We know them well in Guyana, don’t we?  But there are those in the ranks of the man-in-the-street who are upset that first they are being taken for granted, and next dismissed as fools.  Those who respond critically to tactics that they could be effortlessly influenced away from their commonsense logic about what does not add up. They are uneasy as to why there are so many secrets, the reasons for them, and why they escalate to a matter of life and death.  And to top it all off, the regular John and Jane Doe of city and village stir in their mind show is it and why is it such an unpardonable crime to think for oneself first, think differently second, and then have courage to speak out with the conscience of troubled and anxious citizen.

Now for the $64,000 question.  Since the small man and small woman (some not so small children also) can see what they see, and think how they think about huge public things in Guyana, and their surrounding schemes and secrets, and the range of disagreements and questions that arise, what happened to all the educated and bright and the best of Guyana?  How is it that they are suddenly so limited that the same wise men and women cannot see what has unfolded here, be it for gold or governance?  What has been done, what drives our thinkers with some strain of Guyanese heritage that they have surrendered self-respect, abandoned abilities natural and tutored, and dodge dealing in the currency of honesty?  The small man is looking to those who he trusted to do the best for him.  He is appalled at what he sees and absorbs, by how his own have yielded and betrayed.  Surely the brighter and wiser and much smarter in the domestic arena (and those afar also) cannot be that disconnected from where the little people are.

Ordinary Guyanese have their work and their humble homestead.  They lose one or the other [or both], and it is as if life itself has ebbed out of them.  The small man doesn’t come out in the public space, for he could lose everything.  So, he is prudent enough to hold his tongue while thinking all the time.  It is about what is not healthy, what is detrimental.  In contrast, the proficient is versed in a plethora of skills and ways.  They can start out on their own, or they can start over somewhere else, carve their own space.  They need only themselves and their visions for themselves, and the will to make it happen.  But here it is now customary that the main priority is to do what it takes, and play any game, and sell any story, to maintain their closeness to prosperity.  Or to lay the groundwork to enhance their prospects and a better chance of feathering their nests.  These are stiff prices for which the wise of Guyana readily cheapen themselves.  If nuanced hairsplitting is required, it’s done.  When outright deceptions (including willful self-deceptions) are compulsory, that’s easy.  Who is conning whom?  Who is for self-advancement and self-enrichment?  Who is playing dumb and flourishes in self-denial?

The small man and woman in Guyana may not have much.  But he or she has mastered commonsense, the raw ethics of the primitive earth, and they have made liars and frauds of the wise.  The ordinary man knows a con when he sees one, he thinks cleanly about it, and is better for doing so. Meanwhile, wisdom thrives on decay.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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• circumstances, citizen, GHK Lall, Guyana, information

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