This will be another good year

Another New Year and a lot of screams and fireworks at midnight. There were the blessings, hugs, kisses and the wild gyrations as the clock wound down to signal the end of 2011 and to welcome the New Year—a leap year at that.
For as long as I could remember the churches and the parties and the tears were part of the annual welcome for the New Year. Guyana is a very religious country. We have more people going to places of worship than in most other countries and I always wondered at the violence that could exist in this small but poor country.
There were many who welcomed 2011 with so much hope of a better life and who greeted the end with disappointment. There were those who lost relatives and friends during the course of the year just past. Some of these deaths were due to senseless murders, some to road accidents caused by errant drivers or simply bad luck.
There were those who died during armed robberies and some simply disappeared. During the holidays I confronted a woman who was at her wits’ end. Her spouse left home to work in the hinterland. He left with the promise that he would be back for Christmas. He never came and he never called. A good Samaritan stepped in to at least allow the woman and her children to spend one good day.
A few years back I was big into making resolutions. I felt good knowing that I promised to do some things that would make me a better person. The Lord’s Prayer states, “Lead us not into temptation.” I know it well. So too did my resolutions, but they were led away anyhow. By the middle of January I had no resolutions to keep.
I also become morbid at the dawn of the New Year. I think about my mortality. I wonder whether I would be a casualty. So far, that has not been the case, and I intend to keep it that way. I have not had any bad experiences so far and I intend to keep things that way too.
But the best thing to happen for me was the composition of the Parliament. All my life I had been living in a country where ‘winner-take-all’ politics was the order of the day. The elected government dictated what would happen after token deliberations.  This time around the deliberations will have to be meaningful.
The entire world was pleased with the outcome of the elections and their leaders said as much. And again, there was no electoral violence. I was glad, so glad that I actually penned many pieces in support of the present situation.
The year had its funny episodes, too. There was this man who lived in a house on Joseph Pollydore Street. He was in his house when he heard it creak. He picked up a few things and ran outside. When the house did not fall he ventured back inside. The building was waiting for him because it fell just then. The man was able to hit the front door and escape before the building could come crashing down.
Then there were these women who went shopping without money. They picked the Corentyne and made merry. They all wore long skirts and hid the booty under those skirts. They stole from sheets to large solid objects. I wondered how they fared with the cold stuff.
One woman went into Guyana Stores and stole two chickens. She stuffed them in her underwear. Forget the discomfort and concentrate on the size of the underwear she wore. Had I been a court reporter I would have had a field day.
And by the way, the women on the Corentyne were caught on security camera. I don’t know how they found money to post bail.
I had my disappointments supporting the West Indies cricket team and my joys at the success of the Golden Jaguars. I also saw how some people simply gave up trying to live honestly. Less people wanted to make an honest living and some suffered.
The year just finished also increased my fear of flying. I was at home in bed when a call came that there was a plane crash at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. Such a thing was unheard of and at first I thought that it was a hoax. It turned out that a plane did crash. Kaieteur News was the first to post the photographs for the world to see.
The paper could have made money but the publisher, Glenn Lall, decided that the photographs were there for anyone to use for free. Kaieteur News got more publicity than if it had advertised. It’s international readership has soared.
What do I expect in the New Year? Peace of mind and health. I still smoke the occasional cigarette but I don’t want to make any resolutions. Some of my friends have been hit by stroke and one of them actually quit smoking and drinking immediately. I always thought that it was impossible for him to stop smoking.
Another has been diagnosed with lung cancer and a few with prostate cancer. I should take note but then again, sometimes I tell myself that life is about destiny. What is written will remain written. But at other times I tell myself that I have control over what would happen to me.
This year will be good. There will be the London Olympics and I have a television set to follow the event.
To all those who read my column, I say, stay with me. There is still a lot more in me.