A COLLEAGUE, sometime over the past two years, had related an incident that occurred while making himself available to claim legitimate assistance at a touted gathering that had a financial support feature. He was asked at the desk where he had engaged how he prepared his in-house feed for his livestock. An argument occurred when he said he didn’t understand why that question had come up, since that aspect that embodied his business presentation obviously was reserved. With some intervention, the matter was solved, as the person at the desk was told to ignore that type of questioning as it was not suited to what was transpiring then. I’ve reviewed that incident many times and come to recognise that though in-house Guyanese will use their knowledge, inherited and tutored to enhance their livelihoods, there will be challenges that may not be anticipated. Not having a basic understanding of self and what public discourse is, against what must remain the private formula, can tip one’s anticipated smooth plank across the canal by making it slippery and deceptive.
I can recall the drama of change that unfolded in the series, “Mad Men”. It was a change that was consumed with impositions that could hardly be wrestled with. I liked “Mad Men” because I lived through aspects of a similar frenzy at GNNL around the period that the series was focusing on. It was the age when the computer intercepted the ‘Art-Drawn’ advertising graphics and imagery, and a software named ‘Page Maker’ emerged with its impact on layout and text composition jobs. But unlike the artist in ‘Mad Men’ who went viral, I related to these changes in a contemplated, very serious, but sober mindset. The series also countered the economic and painful trot of the pale horseman of the cigarette industry towards its eclipse. Sadly, we in Guyana have traded cigarettes for marijuana and even worse.
Ownership of one’s choice of what we accept to influence us against the balance towards recognising the real world we dwell in in response to what has been imposed on us is crucial to our mental and spiritual survival. Regardless of how change envelopes us, room for adjusting our gifts to penetrate new frontiers always exists. This is where I propose a little info strip for young minds in public schools. Who can supervise such a thing? To answer this, I must return to the ‘Guardian Edict’ mentioned in the title of this article. There is an institution that can play an important part in designing the language in this booklet I’m referring to for schools and Business Fairs towards more activity and trust in conversation exchanges and overall awareness. Our own Commercial Registry’s mandate should be to guide the discourse within the areas mentioned, especially towards small and cottage industries and officials who are more public servants than trained to interact with the curiosities of people proceeding into business ventures with some initial experiences but nevertheless, with anticipations and suspicions.
On the platform of working in Guyana, it is obvious now we must accommodate more than our 18-19th Century legacy of vendors and cottage industries. I know that we can accommodate our local talents rather than foreigners. Here is where the Commercial Registry comes in as the “Guardian Edict” to introduce the language that will help conduct the much-needed ongoing dialogue with confidence.
