We
are certainly in the midst of some difficult times with the unstable economy, leadership at odds with the constituents, living standards falling and crime increasing. All of these things are making for a rather disgruntled and sombre society with an outlook that is casting a dark cloud over the future of the country and our children. We know these things to be true, because we are living with this daily, but when we take a closer look at what we still have going for us and the possibilities that are within our reach, there is hope. When we take a closer look around the world and even at our South American neighbours, we have to recognise that we still have so much to be thankful for.
Venezuela is going through its toughest time in history. The hospitals are in a sorry state of repair and the health-care system is crumbling. Where we claim shortages in drugs and are able to then place a late order and receive vital medication, men, women and children are suffering and dying next door as a result of inadequate governance leading to empty dispensaries.
High teenage pregnancy rates and high infant mortality are uncontrollable in Venezuela. Children are dying due to malnutrition. Food shortages mean that food is now being transported under armed guard, and basic necessities are being rationed. People have to queue for hours and sometimes overnight on days they are assigned to receive staples like rice and cooking oil, and still leave empty-handed, so they do not eat for days. Even when people have money to purchase food, the supermarket shelves are empty.
French Guiana is also drastically struggling and is plagued by general strikes that are crippling the country. Thirty-seven unions believe they have no other avenue to address the situation they face. They too are experiencing severe hardships, high unemployment and crime rates, low standards of living and poor governance. Nearly 30 per cent of the population does not have access to either drinkable water or to electricity.
Our southern neighbours Brazil are no exception to these difficulties. From a country previously boasting inclusion in the world’s top 10 GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and the largest economy in Latin America, the state Government now does not have enough money to keep Police vehicles on the roads. Police stations are running out of paper, hospitals are in precarious situations, State universities are on strike pending funds from previous academic years and 500,000 public servants are insecure of payment. Unemployment is increasing, thousands of businesses remain shuttered, and social and economic inequalities have become more pronounced. The recession is hitting hard.
While we lament the falling value of the Guyanese dollar against the US’s, Venezuelans have reputedly taken to using their country’s currency as napkins. While we protest about parking meters (and rightly so, I hasten to add), Venezuelans protest about food. While we fight for a fair deal on private education (again, with good reason), thousands of school-age children starve. While we feel the strain of VAT on water and electricity, thousands have neither clean water nor light.
Now, while we have every right to protest, to demand fair treatment and to expect a decent standard of living, and while I hope as citizens we all continue to support each other and find ways to secure these things for ourselves, our families and our communities, it is also important to put into perspective what is happening around us. In order for us to be thankful and to be more than a conflicting, aggressive, pessimistic society that is highlighting only the negatives to our children, we need to be appreciative of the things we do have.
If we are not careful, we will find ourselves missing opportunities because we are too busy feeling sorry for ourselves and cultivating an argumentative and ungrateful community in which to raise our children. We may find ourselves unable to benefit from the good because we are too busy focusing on the bad.
Without dropping the gauntlet in our endeavours for proper and fair governance, without sitting back and allowing ourselves to be bullied or manipulated, we still need to find a way to celebrate what we do have in this beautiful land. It is so easy to get caught up in a negative spiral and be consumed with cynicism that we can forget to appreciate the fundamental things we are blessed with. Times are hard and they may indeed get harder, but we still have so much to be thankful for.
