RECENTLY, having suffered the loss of someone very dear to me, I began to reflect on the brevity of life, and the importance of how and what we invest our lives in.

Death is a reality that most persons would rather not talk about or even contemplate. But the probability of us all dying is one to one.

Hence it becomes necessary for each of us to give serious thought to the way we live and the recognition that each of us was born to make a contribution to this planet as a part of what we evangelicals refer to as the divine purposes of God.

A very insightful expression of this concept of living life with and for a purpose is found in the words of playwright and former President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel in his essay “the Power of the Powerless”.

In this he said: “The profound crisis of human identity brought on by living within a lie, a crisis which in turn makes such a life possible, certainly possesses a moral dimension as well; it appears, among other things, as a deep moral crisis in society. A person who has been seduced by the consumer value system, whose identity is dissolved in an amalgam of the accoutrements of mass civilization, and who has no roots in the order of being, no sense of responsibility for anything higher than his or her own personal survival, is a demoralized person. The system depends on this demoralization, it deepens it, and it is in fact a projection of it into society”.

What might it imply, to be such a one in the context of a Guyanese society? What might it imply to retain a sense of responsibility to something higher than personal survival?

These are the obviations that we all seek to ignore; but which is the eventual sum-total of our lives here on earth.

These questions presuppose that there is a consciousness of ones responsibility to a wider community of earth dwellers to whom and for whom we must bear a burden of liability.

More than ever before, we as a nation need to see the emergence of a new breed of citizens, even a new type of political culture. I speak of citizens who embrace their social responsibility for the preservation and protection of not only their communities but also their country as a whole.

I speak of a political culture in which we, their leaders, choose national development over political ostentation and unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

One may argue that the seduction to which Havel refers is nothing more than a natural human desire to satisfy our basic needs. But while this may seem like a fair postulation, it is also very clear that a culture of greed and personal advancement, impervious to the socio-economic realities of our times, is also pervasive in our nation.

The spirit of brotherhood and altruism has somehow taken wings and bid us goodbye; leaving us with the proverbial beast of egocentricity and depravity.

I continue to lament the noticeable absence of the singing of our national songs in many of our public schools, the lyrics of which engender a sense of patriotism in many a Guyanese. One such composition that is philosophically aligned with Havel’s theory of “a responsibility higher than personal survival” is in W.R.A. Pilgrim’s “Let us cooperate”.

Notice the profundity in the first two stanzas of this song.

Let us co-operate for Guyana
Let us co-operate for our land,
Let us resolve to fight together
See we do it right together
Can we do it? Yes we can.
Each man must do his bit with his comrades,
Each man must do his bit for his land,
Each must resolve to help another,
Learn to call his neighbor ‘brother’
Can we do it? Yes we can.

In order for this nation to survive, a radical paradigm shift must be undertaken. The need is for an embrace of the spirit of brotherhood and altruism, where we take responsibility for something higher than our personal survival. Community and country must come before self interest. Service to our fellowmen must take precedence over narrow selfish ambitions. We must lift the boot off the necks of our brothers and extend a hand, regardless of color, religion or political affiliation.

The permeating practice is to look out for our own, and to hell with the others. This is the surest way to secure a future of social, economic and political disintegration. A depraved man indeed is one who is so entrapped in his own world of greed and personal advancement that he is blinded to the plight of the very people who makes his world possible.

We are at a very delicate cross road as a nation. Our government under the leadership of President Jagdeo is pushing ahead with new and innovative economic policies to keep our economy moving at a steady rate of growth. But it is naïve to think that government alone can move a nation into prosperity. Human development requires also that the minds of our people become enlightened to their personal responsibilities of respecting and valuing what we have, while we work for what we would like to have.

Let us, as we awake to new challenges and difficult circumstances, take responsibility for something higher than our personal survival. Can we do it? Yes we can.