THERE is no denying that given our diverse historical experiences — pleasant and unpleasant — and the environment within which groups have had to share the same space (i.e. Guyana),  that such have been marked with conflicts, violent and non-violent. At the same time, Guyanese can only be held captive to negative experiences of history at our choosing. Conversely, the opportunity always presents itself to use historical experiences — lived or told — to learn from mistakes of the past, and build on the accomplishments. Somewhere between these two options this nation seems caught in a vortex.Where there continues to be a decided preference to not learn from mistakes and move on, but rather engage in the continual game of “proving” who was bad or good, how such serves this nation’s interest is anyone’s guess. Pursuing conversations, calls and actions to dismantle structures and conduct universally accepted places the nation on a tightrope and utilises the energies of the peoples in a non-futuristic direction, which is detrimental to the people and society.
A nation cannot be forged with continued efforts to deny the contributions of persons and organisations to society, because they are considered bad. Neither is it acceptable that those perceived to be good should be attributed the prominence of sole contributor — end all — and be all for everything. The marking of time, divisive and distasteful features of our politics, regardless of who practises them, have to end.
Forging a nation whose frame our national anthem acknowledges is that of a “land of six peoples,” to get to the stage where we are truly “united and free” requires integrity, civility and respect for self, others and the nation’s established mores and institutions. For too long public discourse and treatment of others have been poisoned or praised, primarily because of the person’s politics or ethnicity. The only place sanity reigns for those refusing to be caught up in the morass is reliance on history, through the perspectives of timeline, context and events.
In looking at forging nationhood, there are some home truths that need to be faced and accepted. Guyana is a diverse society. Diversity is not a curse, it is a blessing in that it offers different cultural experiences, perspectives on life, skills, interests, solutions and problem-solving techniques that can work for all. What is required and keep escaping attention is that where there is respect for this and everyone is treated equally and with dignity, such can reduce and eliminate the irascible approach to politics and things political.
There is no need to feel that a person has to be liked to treat him/her with respect and civility. This would be out of recognition and appreciation of sharing the same space, which that person is entitled to share, equally as having access to the nation’s resources, opportunities, and the protection of its laws.  There is no need to prove any point to anyone outside of being civil and treating that person the way you would want to be treated. It requires character to be civil and understand that such is not displayed when engaging in tit for tat.
Where one knows better, it is expected that better be done. And where others, when the shoe was on the other foot, had engaged in unbecoming conduct, civility dictates rising above the boorishness. A person cannot be embarrassed treating them in the crude manner they treated others. Neither can a society grow and unite/cohere caught in this display of misconduct to the other.
The challenges this nation faces at the social and political levels will not be fixed overnight. No one is delusional. However, what is expected is that Guyanese stop and take stock of the manner in which we treat each other and start now to address the decline in social grace, etiquette, protocol and civility. A heterogeneous society by its very nature brings with it conflicts, given competing interests, scarce resources, diverse cultural outlook and preferences.
Conflict, while it creates the space for animosity and intolerance, also allows for opportunities for bringing together diverse forces to find, arrive at, and work through consensus. This continues to present a challenge to Guyana and it is not that Guyanese lack the ability to do so. What is evident is the absence of will to make consensus the guiding principle for engagement which is important for forging nationhood. Guyanese have to learn to respect and treat self and each other with dignity or we’ll perish together as fools.