Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 16, 2011 Features / Columnists, My Column
By Adam Harris
There are times when we simply feel like locking ourselves in our homes, because we get the impression that to go out would be to court danger in some form or the other. But then again, we are social animals and a social scientist once concluded that if we were to live alone without any social contact then we would become stark raving mad.
I suppose that there is a touch of madness in all of us, and if some of us do not believe that, then we should try explaining certain things. For example, why would we jump in our cars and drive around with blatant disregard for the traffic signs.
We should also ask ourselves the reason for going out and imbibing alcohol to the extent that we lose all sense of reasoning and suddenly feel that we are the strongest or smartest or even the most handsome or beautiful on the planet.
Or why would we associate with a violent companion knowing that our death could be just a blink away? I know of people who say that they remain in the relationship because of uncertainty of the future and because of love. Well if love involves suffering pain and broken limbs, and if that is not madness, then I surely do not know what is.
There was a lot of madness this week and I refused to be caught up. For example, I learnt of a woman who decided that life on her own was better than living in an abusive relationship so she hiked to South Sophia and amidst bush, erected a place she could call home.
In the first instance that was madness because if something had happened to her then she had no one to provide succor. She lived there until the government opened up the area with roads and water and lights only to find that someone else was coming to lay claim to her piece of land.
The person not only erected a structure on that plot of land, but also set about tormenting the woman, even striking her. The turning point came when they tried to demolish the woman’s home. The neighbours became mad and with a cry of “Break for break” they demolished the newcomer’s home even as they were inside.
Madness knows no bounds. The newcomer resorted to the courts and the matter is still there. But I ask myself a simple question. If the neighbours, without hesitation, would rush to the woman’s aid, what is there to prevent them from keeping out the newcomer? I would be mad to try to build there even if I get a favourable resolution in the courts.
I was trying to catch up on work when someone shouted that there was cricket on the television—that Guyana was playing. I am not sure that I qualify as a fanatic but I surely love the game in all its forms. There was a time when I played. And that had to be madness. A man is hurling a hard object at me and I am defending myself with a piece of wood.
Anyhow, there was Guyana struggling and ending up scoring a paltry 112. A group of Englishmen set about making light work of this target until they succumbed to madness and failed to reach that total by one run.
Of course I was ecstatic. I suppose that I got caught up in the madness. The story was not to end there. Guyana was playing again against a team called Combined Campuses and Colleges. The latter posted what up to that point, was the highest total in the tournament.
As they did in the previous match, Guyana made a hash of the chase until two young men from my club, the Demerara Cricket Club, brought the situation under control. But until then I was mad. I could not work nor could I contain myself from cussing the team although they could not hear or see me.
This madness is a contagious thing. I remember watching the finish and I saw other grown men caught up in the excitement. They too could not work and they cared little about anything else.
I write a satirical piece in the newspapers every day, poking fun at people and at situations. Sometimes I use that column to get back at people who get under my skin, especially since I keep in my corner. There was this man who probably thinks that he is a God and who could talk to anyone in any manner.
There I was minding my own business when this man accused me of an involvement in something or the other. I retaliated and the man felt crushed. He called everyone, including me, to complain how I had held him up to ridicule.
Old people have a saying; “Do suh nah like suh.” It is madness to treat people in any old fashioned way and not expect it to be that one day someone would do the same to you. I am a firm believer in retribution and it does not come when we are dead. It comes not too long after we have done something wrong. And when it comes we ask ourselves what it is that we have done wrong.
For this reason I try to live life in a manner that would avoid me having to face retribution. For example, there was madness in the behaviour of some people and I wondered. What mother would put her 13-year-old daughter to prostitute herself so that she, the mother, could drink rum? That was the case of a woman at Wakenaam.
Then there is this man at Eccles who has a physically challenged daughter. Believe it or not, this man has sex with his own daughter and he does not care who knows. He fondles her in public and he would take her inside when he is ready. Sickness and madness.
So, when these things happen I feel more than inclined to stay indoors to avoid the madness that prevails. But then again, I have to be more than mad to believe that I could shut myself away from what is happening around me.
Please share this to every Guyanese including your house cats.
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