We live in an angry society

Dear Editor,
I’ve been contemplating whether to acquiesce or resist the nagging feeling to write about the level and types of anger demonstrated at all strata of society. There is the philosophical saying that what you resist persists, so I’ve decided to list a few examples of the damage and stranglehold anger has on this society.
Permit me to list and express an observation on the phenomenon of anger that seems endemic to our social fabric in Guyana. Here goes:
(1) Since the beginning of 2010, at least 13 women have died as a result of homicide in cases of domestic violence. It is not that they have simply died, but the manner in which their spouses have murdered them indicates deep psychological retardation and stagnant anger. (An interesting study would be to research the trend and levels of homicide in cases of domestic violence in Guyana over the past 15-20 years).
(2) Driving in Guyana is a nightmare. Our driving habits must be on par with the worst in the world. Most of our drivers are discourteous, too many are reckless and we are often not concerned about the legal consequences of reckless driving until we are in an accident.
The police must be commended for their efforts to be visible on the roadways during peak traffic hours but much more needs to be done on penalizing reckless drives, to ensure rigorous testing and screening of potential licensees and proactive traffic policing in which police presence is observed/unobserved by drivers in strategic locations during off-peak hours. I bet if the police check their records, assuming that accident times and days are recorded, they would find that most of our road fatalities occur during off-peak hours.
(3) Our conversations in commute and in public environs reveal that we are most interested in the personal affairs of others and “bad talking” them rather than improving our lot. If we are not “bad talking” someone we are most likely talking angrily about each other, someone or something.
It’s as if we are psychologically locked in a competitive state of affairs with each other that manifests in words of war, discrimination and marginalization and in some cases physical altercations.
If you are interested in seeing this first hand, simply observe the conversations of school aged children and the tone in which debates are most often held in Parliament. In the latter case, the anger is most often motivated by political animosity and hate rather than being policy related. The second part of my third observation concerns the suspicious and angry stares at people known and unknown to us.
Walk down any street in central Georgetown or any in Guyana for that matter and you will encounter at least three persons who look at you suspiciously or angrily unless you are a favoured one. Even then the favoured one is still likely to receive threatening stares. If you stop and ask someone why they just looked at you the way they did, they either have no clue of the communication transmitted by their facial expressions or you begin to understand that both types of stares stem from fear and a sense of helplessness.
Finally, (4) What has happened to our voluntary spirit? I’ve spoken with numerous persons who have told me that community cohesion is been eroded by fear, selfishness and financial constraints. I smell local capitalism, socially unchecked and our recent history with violence, particularly perceived/real cases of ethnically charged violence.
Life in Guyana has undoubtedly improved materially, however antiquated habits and attitudes persist to the detriment of the well-being of our families, friends and neighbours. (The Biblical saying of putting new wine into old bottles and having the bottles burst, comes to mind) Thus the material changes we observe have not been accompanied by meaningful levels of social consciousness, leaving us paralyzed and often dumbfounded when our most plaguing social fears (in the public and private domains) and lethargic behaviours particularly in the public sectors, manifest unthinkable acts of crime, corruption and disregard for life and limb.
I recently read a book, titled “Way of The Peaceful Warrior” by Dan Millman in which a sage told Dan that “Anger is stronger than fear and sadness.” He was making the point in the context of Dan’s inability to constructively channel his anger to better the social, personal and inter-personal conditions and relationships inhibiting his well-being.
This challenge affects us all yet it is a challenge worth taking because our daily life experiences and our well-being improve as soon as we positively change the way in which we think and communicate with ourselves and others.
Please if you are reading this article, let’s be conscious of our anger, its sources as well as consequences, and act vigilantly to improve our pattern of expressing anger into more constructive and helpful acts.
R. Small