THE challenge of our ancestors is not limited to the long-gone past; it includes those of today who may have been taught and have passed on the serious logic of times before.

This country has suffered the terrible onslaughts of drugged-out minds, with severe impacts on relatives and innocent citizens. People died, adults and children. The nation was subjected to manifestations of savagery as never before. But beyond all that shook our peaceful and unsuspecting mindset, there was the impact of drug addiction and violence. Not the violence between drug narco handlers, but violence against unsuspecting relatives, neighbours and even the innocent murdered by a relative for a piece of jewellery.

Addicts are even more numerous than we suspect. The escape into drugs is a partial mystery. We can presume that the basic opportunities sought or dreamt about by some citizens do not exist, though we may have grown as witnesses to such opportunities, and senior talents still are around. For example, the arts on stage. But more than that, many talented Guyanese businesses and clothing designers are no longer around. The era of the global oil crisis destroyed many. Talents like Lance Braithwaite, Alladin’s Cave, Linco’s, among others, never recovered.

So the so-called glory era of drugs came to light, but for most, it was never a light. With it came the other darkness of rites and rituals and the beliefs of fallen ages gone by. Many were caught and lives destroyed, not immediately, but by succumbing to callous people building an illusion of would-be slaves, to be consumed in the shadows of substance servitude, blessed by the worthless gifts of a master of imagination.

There is an interesting book I bought some years ago, written for writers with the same weird curiosity as I have. True in many ways, the ages have engaged. The Chemical Muse, written by D.C.A. Hillman, PhD, explored the ages of his forefathers.

The relevance is that the current human world has merged. The error is that our learning is apart, and yet we summon our fathers across the echelons to inspire our stance here, in the interest of where it should be.

Drug addiction has become a dismal opportunity. It matters not how many are punished, even nations are and were involved in this forbidden temptation that empowers in one breath and destroys with its dismal staff of misery.

We witness, observe and resist its temptation, and offer whatever assistance we can to its victims. This is our act of resistance, whether it is heeded or not.