IN another few hours, a whole New Year will be upon us. It is really just another day turning to night, turning to day, but the earth has made another trip around the sun and that’s worth something. But what does the New Year signal for us here in Guyana?

For me personally, I am entering the New Year with thoughts of how much Guyana can change in these 12 months and really, how much change is necessary.

The past few days, sadly, I have been saturated with misinformation and analyses that threaten to incite fear among people. Following that fateful No-Confidence motion, I believe I have heard all the outlandish and borderline insane theories and opinions. Now, I consider myself to be quite able to filter out misinformation, but this might not be the same for many.

Perhaps unconsciously, we have let ourselves become sponges- where we are quick to soak up whatever is thrown on us.

In the age of technology where data has become the most valuable commodity (yes, even beating oil), it becomes imperative for misinformation to be rooted out. And in times like these when information is everywhere in abundance, owing to social media, it becomes even more important for those who spread information to be responsible.

The change in the dynamics of information sharing requires a change in the way we exercise our responsibility towards it.

For this New Year, as Guyanese, we are not going to fully escape this racial divide that has enveloped this country since its birth. And if I know something about something, elections always bring out the worse parts of this divide and racial polarity will be exacerbated.

Then, there are social media platforms (specifically FACEBOOK) that allow any Mary Jane to connect with any John Smith. As such, this divide has become a part of every conversation. I mean, you check out any local news platform on social media and you won’t have to look too far for the racists and their bigotry.

Those conversations permeate the minds of those who watch and read and incite unnecessary tensions. These conversations are shared, each with their own inherent bias, and that leads right back to this central concept of misinformation.

And what is a splendid way to curb this? Carefully navigating through the misinformation is the way to go. But so far, that change or adaption has been very elusive.

It is evident that misinformation taints every aspect of our everyday life. Look at the pessimism brought by all those folks that like to make their opinions on the emerging oil and gas industry known. Before the nation can even begin to benefit from this, the talk of why the nation will fail has become commonplace.

Could this lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy? Perhaps, who knows! But that is yet to play out, so let’s see how we use this year ahead of us to prepare for the much talked about ‘first oil’.

And let’s not even remember the rumours of the President’s health or the scares given through the assumptions of Venezuela’s intentions. Misinformation was working overtime to incite fear. Oh, and that one time Mr. Krauss from the New York Times wanted to tell the world about the ‘watery wilderness’ that is Guyana.

Nevertheless, big things are going to happen in this country this year, one way or the other- whether it’s elections, preparations for oil or everything else in between. Some of these things might be pleasing to some and you know how the rest goes. How we respond to these occurrences is going to be indicative of where we stand as a people.

I stopped eating meat in October. It seemed strange to many of my friends that I would do this in October instead of for the New Year. You know, because going vegan is the new way to go and all. But I say this to underscore also that while the New Year brings new opportunities for new things to happen and to usher in new changes, each day similarly brings a new opportunity to change for the better.

I personally believe that this year, we need to make a concerted effort to change this nasty culture that we have allowed to engulf us. After a while, it is going to get tiring to just talk about changing but yet perpetuate the same negative things by virtue of what we say and share and how we respond to what is said and shared. If this country is to move forward we really need to stop letting the bigotry get the best of us and work towards our common destiny.

A blessed New Year to all.