WE celebrated Holi yesterday.
We showered each other with coloured powder and drenched each other with water made red with abir.And this was not the preserve of only our Hindu brothers and sisters. Many Guyanese of other religious persuasions joined in this spring phenomenon, a multi-cultural melding that testified to the willingness of this nation of multiple ethnicities to share with each other, evidence of the oneness that is a part of the national motto.
And it is interesting that Holi is celebrated in the middle of the Lenten Season, that period of austerity that is about the most important happening in the Christian calendar, a period of introspection that ends with the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday.
Both Holi and Easter are spring festivals. They indicate new beginnings, new life. The season calls for forgiveness and for accommodating each other, for wiping the slate clean and for working with the common good in mind, for putting aside selfish agendas and for experiencing the satisfaction that comes with doing something for others.
We in Guyana are indeed blessed with a plethora of natural resources and a people whose resilience has been tested on more than one occasion and who always ride the crest, overcoming every adversity. And there were many.
We would do well to think on the true meaning of Holi and Easter.
We need to be thankful for the opportunities before us, and to grasp them with both hands, and to see them through in a spirit of togetherness.
To do otherwise would be tragic indeed.