It's indeed a wonderful feeling to be able to travel this long on the road of Independence. Gratitude and happiness should decorate the corridors of every proud Guyanese inner sense of dignity. While this is no easy feat, the fact that like every any birth anniversary, the joy of accomplishment and the reflection of future plans anoint the soul for pleasures unspeakable. So too in Guyana and the wider Diaspora, in blowing the candles of forty three, the wish that peace and prosperity pursue this land of endless waters at Godspeed is innate.
In all due respect, it's not only that the leaders of independence and the martyrs of the struggle be remembered but every son and daughter be recognized; that in life we are a part of each other and every success is the accumulation of every other's crumbs. Like the pebble thrown at the ponds of fresh black water, the ripples are not only circles visible to the near stander but travels way beyond the tributaries, into light years ahead. So too every race, religion and class must be given their fair share for independence is also, rather is the freedom from the slow death of poverty, racism and systemic discrimination.
My recent visit reminds me that not only progress is visible but the coveted freedom of time and leisure is still indigenous. Recently, Toronto celebrated Guyanese of excellence and the exhilaration reechoed humbly; that inclusive, intelligent and industrious minds originate from the blood-soaked fields of our ancestral heritage alike. This being our contribution to global peacekeeping!
Let this year of colonial freedom be celebrated with the commitment to never allow another man to be unjust to anyone and may the spiritual enrichment of our paths be the beacon of advancement, always.
As Mahatma Gandhi put it, on his way to independence, through Ahimsa; “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
Yours truly,
Habeeb Alli
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment