Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 15, 2014 Letters
DEAR EDITOR,
In all the debates on the various issues which are attracting our attention and interest from time to time, whether it be the opinion-makers in our newspaper columns and readers’ letters, between leaders of rival political parties, or among members of the public, we can see clearly that everyone is so convinced of the rightness of his/her own position, and so intent on converting everyone else to his/her own views, that people are simply not listening to one another.
This has been never so manifest as in the recent past, especially in the debates on the national budget in Parliament, when even those projects that we can all agree would lead to the benefit of all our citizens have been abandoned.
We have witnessed this obduracy in the behaviour of members of both sides of the government on the various issues that come up, from whom we should have at least expected some example and open-mindedness, so that others below may follow their lead in order to arrive at positions which are acceptable, or at least able to be tolerated, by the general populace. The opposing forces are instead directing their efforts towards upstaging their “enemies” on every issue, rejecting all arguments and proposals which they believe would lead to some loss of interest on their part.
It is clear that all those involved in these “debates” believe that their side of the story is always correct, and that the other side is always wrong, and not worth listening to. And as soon as we examine this type of approach to the various questions which need to be answered fairly and objectively in order to facilitate solutions to our political and societal problems, we see clearly that such an erroneous attitude will always lead to continuous and never-ending controversies. These, of course, will only keep our nation forever in the morass of poverty, ignorance and political and ethnic strife.
If there is an absolute truth, none of us mortals has been blessed with it, and we can only add to the fund of knowledge and experience if we genuinely endeavour to listen closely to those with whom we engage in our debates.
I would like to posit here that the prerequisite for attaining peace, harmony and progress in any group of human beings, whether a couple, an organisation, a community, a society, or a nation, is not so much whether they can come up with practical solutions, but more that they are willing to forget differences, willing to cooperate for the good of the whole, and willing to sacrifice their own preferences and compromise so as to work out solutions which would be of mutual benefit and acceptable to all concerned.
This means that our salvation depends not so much on our wisdom and knowledge of what we are engaged in as on the spirit that we must cultivate that inspires us to work unselfishly in every situation for the greater good of everyone. This is the law of community that we must follow or be doomed to failure, no matter how intensive and efficient are our efforts to solve our problems.
May all my fellow Guyanese see the wisdom and the efficacy of this principle and use it in their deliberations at all levels.
Roy Paul
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