Dear Editor,
My very educated and learned friend Zamal usually shares some great, well-constructed pieces with me. I am glad that I have such a friend who also sees the deeper side of things and thinks out of the box.
Today, I will attempt to discuss hate, but before I start, I would like to express “sincere thanks” to the print media houses for affording us the opportunity to share our views and thoughts on contemporary issues.
James Baldwin said, “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain”.
We believe that we must stand against oppression, seek justice and be tolerant. When we study history marked by prejudice, lies and hate, we see destruction and pain of unimaginable proportions.
As it turns out, we do live in these times. We are living and experiencing a fraught moment in which it is impossible to stay neutral. In 20 years, the young children of today will want to know, where did we stand? What did we do to combat hate? How did we seek justice? Were we tolerant of others?
Examples of hate and intolerance are numerous. Just look around our world. The past hundred years has been catastrophic. Conflicts and devastation unmatched, suffering unspeakable, hate and intolerance have gone into overdrive and sadly our leaders, our politicians are propelling it.
I have experienced and witnessed intolerance in Guyana with my neighbour, in the streets of Georgetown, in the Mosque, in the Church and Temple, the Parliament of Guyana and various public places.
Once I had a meeting with the mother of a poor child I was sponsoring to attend a private secondary school.
During the meeting, she took offence to what I said and became very furious, abusive and exercised much disrespect. My blood reached to my brain so fast and my heart spoke, “abort the sponsorship” immediately; but a voice rose deep inside me and whispered, “You are not doing this sponsorship for her, you are doing it for God All Mighty”.
Today, that child is a model student, she completed her BSC and is pursuing her MBA. I did not allow anger, hate and intolerance to get the better of me. This, to my mind, is how the men and women in authority should approach issues of individual and national interests. Such forms of hate, anger and intolerance that we see in society today will take root in our schools and ultimately will be transferred to the next generation. This is so frightening, good people must take a stand now. The geopolitics of the world must attract positive change in attitudes. The world is broken and we desperately need to get along, work with and respect one another. The era of fighting and intolerance should be over for the rivers of bloodshed are overflowing.
As we embark on the new year, we simply cannot continue down the path of intolerance; do not cling to your hates and old prejudice practices. Let’s struggle to conquer our divides. Presidents and governments will come and go. But, the long process that truly changes our lives is still there and they are not always the things that people are expecting or discussing. Let us all try to leave a legacy that future generations can emulate.
Yours truly,
Nazar Mohamed
