FOCUSING on the big, grand, gigantic development agenda would motivate this nation to work hard, apply the national intelligence and citizen smarts fully to the process of socioeconomic progress, and generally move things along with good momentum. However, Guyanese need to also zero in on the little things that bedevil the land. One cannot underrate the impact of this country struggling through 28 years of grotesque economic decline over the 1970s and 1980s period, a historic moment that spawned some lasting negative effects upon the society. Across the land, these little things persist, and Guyanese may even see them as the normalised way of how the country is, with no real remedy. Some of these little things cause jarring angst on citizens, when encountering the glaring unnaturalness. Some of these little things are, for example, insane folks and street dwellers roaming the public space of Georgetown and New Amsterdam and other communities, people who fell through the cracks and whom the society leaves to roam the land, some clothed with nothing but scanty rags; and animals roaming the main roadway in rural areas; and people strewing garbage on street corners and causing open, infested rubbish heaps in public; and then there’s the minibus sub-culture with lewd music and some uncouth operators; and, most bedevilling of all, street crimes that cause Guyanese to be on guard in the markets, on the streets, and even to bar their homes with iron grill.

Guyanese look around their country and see a wide range of the little things that could easily be cleaned up and that, were they to be gotten rid of, would contribute to the society being whole and clean and aesthetically pleasing. This one little consideration, of cultivating an aesthetically pleasing country, where Guyanese enjoy their public spaces, would go a long way to make the nation enjoy its life so much more. But it is up to citizens to make this society function at such a high level, rather than everybody looking only to government to come up with solutions to every little thing.
These little things one cannot look to government alone to solve. Much of it also lies in the hands of ordinary citizens, for the general Guyanese populace to want to cultivate a country that is pleasing, clean, and that functions with consideration for the welfare of each other. Somebody dumping trash at a street corner obviously has no consideration whatsoever for the rest of the society. Such things as caring for the public good, is a thing that the nation as a whole must cooperate and pull together and inculcate into a national culture, a way of being for every citizen to feel obligated to keeping their Guyana clean and healthy and looking good.
If ordinary citizens do not care for their community, who would? Guyanese tend to look to government to solve every little issue that arises. But government is the institution that looks after the big development agenda. Ordinary citizens still need to play a role and do their part in cultivating a national atmosphere of caring for each other and showing deep concern for the forward movement of the country. Indeed, the village raises the child, and so this country must watch out for one another.

If community residents see a garbage heap is defacing their village or town or neighbourhood, they ought to come together and find the perpetrators and report them to the authorities. If residents know of illegal drug operations and domestic abuse and children undergoing bad parenting, they should care for those who seem helpless and unable to fend for themselves. Guyanese would do well to cultivate this caring attitude towards each other, instead of citizens looking to government to solve everything that ails the society. The non-governmental sector is an important arm of any modern society, partnering with the State and citizens to provide services and safety nets that might be unavailable otherwise and thus also the ordinary citizen who stands up and plays a selfless role in the welfare of their country. Every Guyanese is not an entity unto him or her own self. Rather, a country is a nation of people joining heads, hands and hearts to build, cultivate, and generate a society that works for everybody.

This country cannot, for example, afford to continue to see Guyanese fall through the cracks and roam the streets when they become insane from illegal drug addiction or homelessness. Guyana is a relatively small population, and with the wealth and resources available to this country, it is not hard at all to take care of each and every Guyanese, for the whole society to care for every single soul in a way that every person feels at home, among their national family, and that no matter what, their fellow citizens are rooting for them. So many things went wrong in this country over its history. Look at the Coalition, for example, painting buildings across the land in party colours, a blatant paramountcy of the party practice. To undo such madness, Guyanese must stand up and care for their country, see their nation as their personal responsibility, and stand up for each other, to ensure that what is right and good and sensible prevails. Caring about the little things is an important national habit and culture for Guyanese to come together to build a great future.