Dear Editor,
“CHESTNUTS roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Yuletide carols being sung by a choir and folks dressed up like Eskimos…Although it’s been said, many times, many ways, Merry Christmas, to you.”

So, another year has almost passed and Christmas is upon us once again. It is the time of year when Christians reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ whom they worship as their Lord and Saviour.
While Christmas is a festive season that represents peace on earth and goodwill towards all mankind, our sympathy goes out to all those who are bedridden in hospitals and have lost loved ones during the year.

This Yuletide season should serve as a period of reflection on our lives and how we must redouble our efforts in 2024 to uplift others, live in peace and harmony and to make Guyana prosperous.

If there is ever a time when politics should take a holiday, that time is at Christmas when families come together to celebrate. It would be very easy to dwell on the negative, but in this blessed and joyous season, let us choose happiness and embrace the special joy of a Guyanese Christmas.

Those who are able to enjoy the warmth of the sunshine in Guyana and its fine dishes: pepper- pot, curry, cook-up, ham, black cake and ginger beer, should think of their sisters and brothers in the diaspora who are overwhelmed with nostalgia at this time of the year.

Christmas is a time of healing and goodwill to all mankind. What more appropriate time can there be for us Guyanese to forget the hurt, the animosity, the persecution, the frustration and the bitterness of the past? We call on each one of you to renew your spirit and love towards one another, hold out the hand of friendship to neighbours and friends; to those from whom we have been estranged and have done you wrong.

Let us recapture the spirit of the message that brought joy to the world 2,000 years ago by the Babe of Bethlehem. Let us celebrate and be happy and pledge to work together to free Guyana from the monsters of poverty, crime, and unemployment. We must spare no effort to understand the true meaning of peace, love and happiness.

In this festive season, we join our brothers and sisters to pray for Guyana as one nation, to make sure all of our 83,000 square miles of our territory remain intact, the prosperity of all Guyanese and for commonsense and understanding to prevail in their actions at all times. We also pray for peace, happiness and goodwill towards all and for love towards one another.

Perhaps the holidays will give our leaders a chance to reflect on a plan that is inclusive of all in society, embrace the new year as one of healing, atonement and cooperation. There is no shortage of sharing and goodwill in Guyana, especially at this time of year.

There are stories everywhere of people giving to the less fortunate, the elderly, and to children. There are many more acts of kindness being displayed throughout the holiday season but which are not reported.

To those who have and continue to extend a kind and helping hand to others, we thank you for a job well done. For if that display of human compassion helps to change the life of just one person for the better, it would have been worth the effort.

We would be remiss if we did not express our deep concern and heartfelt love for the future of our beloved country and to the government, especially President Ali and Prime Minister, Brigadier Mark Phillips for their tireless and gallant efforts to dissuade any attempts to invade Guyana’s Essequibo region by the Maduro regime of Venezuela.

We commend and admire them as our true leaders and those who are helping the poor, who through no fault of their own are struggling to make ends meet.

Our fervent wish in this season of goodwill is that all will put their shoulders to the wheel to help develop and build Guyana so that all can share in the bounties of its prosperity. We love politics but more importantly, we love Guyana and the people who are fighting for change.

God bless our beautiful and beloved Guyana and its resilient, loving and caring people. We remain proud of the people of Guyana and wish them a bright, successful and happy future and sincerely hope that they live to see and enjoy many more Christmases.

Merry Christmas dear countrymen and women; we hope you enjoy the festive season in peace, love and happiness. May God bless all of you and keep you safe.

Yours respectfully,
Asquith Rose.