Dear Editor,

QUITE recently, I had the chance or should I say, the misfortune of witnessing first-hand the irritating level of narcissism of some of Georgetown’s municipal leaders.

Whilst standing in line in the immigration area at a popular North American airport on my way back to Guyana, I observed the ‘King and Queen of Georgetown’ enter the same immigration area and attempted to utilise the protocol services and dedicated VIP facilities that have been set up in that airport to accommodate foreign dignitaries.

These facilities are used by heads of state, including presidents and other heads of governments and royal parties, including reigning monarchs from Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. This is an expediting service that speeds persons through security, check-in, and passport control.

Clearly, these two narcissists are well below those categories, but apparently do not recognise that fact.

Narcissism falls along the axis of what psychologists call personality disorders, one of a group that includes antisocial, dependent, histrionic, avoidant and borderline personalities. But by most measures, narcissism is one of the worst, if only because the narcissists themselves like the two I refer to are so clueless.

The whole episode was indeed very embarrassing, as they had to be escorted from this area by security personnel and placed in the regular immigration line where they belonged.

I first was amused at witnessing the illusions of grandeur of these two individuals, but then I became sad at how clueless these globe-trotting municipal officials were. But one can only conclude that it was a necessary and timely reminder to them, that they are merely big fish in a small, dirty pond.

Regards
Anu Bihari