MONDAY’s run on the seawall (June 25) was my worst experience. The evidence of trash, urine, defecation (and a few days later the dismemberment of a dog) was overpowering and disgraceful. All I could think of was the words of our national song, ‘Oh Beautiful Guyana’.
The Question was immediate: What was so beautiful?
Guyanese wonder why foreigners criticise our country, and its people in turn become violently upset. But the truth of the matter is that we cannot eat our cake and have it. We have to make the extra effort to clean up after ourselves and discipline ourselves to use the appropriate outlets for the functions of our body and waste.
We must make the extra effort to train our children to respect our environment by first respecting our bodies to use toilets instead of trees, light posts, the seawall, etc. Without respect of our own bodies, how can we respect our environment?
The answer is clear: Either we do it voluntarily, or we are forced to do so by government laws that prohibit littering, selling and trading within the vicinity of the seawalls (and these other areas affected by this) and enforce those laws promptly and with a vengeance.
It is time to take our minds and bodies out of the gutter and use and elevate them to promote the beauty and goodness God has created in us, our country and our world.
We can talk and work to promote tourism, but unless we change this practice and mental attitude, we will find that no one wants to spend their time in a toilet – and that is what Guyana has come to be – a toilet and rubbish heap.
The choice is clear: either, ‘Oh Beautiful Guyana!’ or ‘Oh Beautiful toilet and waste dump!’
I am encouraging our officials in our ministries, people and cities to take the necessary steps to avoid the ultimate disaster of plague, cholera, etc. The need is dire and the time is now!