Vice President gives Guyanese every reason for optimism

Dear Editor,
After attentively listening to Vice-President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo being interviewed by the Guyanese Critic, wherein he touched on all national and topical issues, I have concluded that we Guyanese have every reason for optimism.
A safe and effective vaccine against the coronavirus is likely. Never before has a global scientific apparatus of this size, including our own PPP/C Government, been so focused on a single mission; but testing, mass production, and global distribution of a vaccine will take time. There is no overnight miracle cure or instant prophylactic for the coronavirus. Rather, there is only the promise of hard work ahead.

The unbelievable and unpalatable truth is that the human race will be living with COVID–19 for many months, and perhaps years to come. We can grieve together; we can grieve for the lives we had, and the uninhabited lives we wish we could be living now, but we cannot allow our grief to cloud our judgement, and to lead us astray in our duty to each other and to our communities.

At the same time, we cannot hide forever; it is human nature to find comfort in absolutes when the world around us seems chaotic: open, closed, safe, dangerous, healthy, sick. These dichotomies provide us the facade of comfort and the illusion of control, but these illusions only serve to obscure the complexity of the true challenge facing us.

We must learn how to live new lives; more constrained lives; lives with masks, limitations, sacrifices and uncertainties; lives in which the rules will necessarily change by the day according to the needs of our community. But we cannot shelter in some place indefinitely. We must not allow ourselves to be seduced by the idea that, any day now, this pandemic will suddenly “end.”

Our President, Vice President and PPP/C Government believe that by opening our country, Guyanese and our community will boldly, rationally and wisely approach the complexity of the challenge facing us all. I believe that Guyanese citizens and leaders are fighters who will emerge from this crucible of the pandemic stronger, more resilient, and wiser.

In the midst of this global pandemic, many of us boldly defied our instincts for imagined security and instead followed our reason to embrace the generational challenge fate has handed us. Together, we will continue to learn how to thrive in a complex, profoundly challenging world. We must believe there is utility in truth, no matter how distasteful that truth may be.

And we believe that it is our actions in moments of great crisis which most clearly define us as Guyanese. We must believe in us, the Christmas season is here, let us continue to act responsibly as the end of a difficult year approaches. There is growing debate over how people can celebrate the festive season together while minimising the spread of COVID-19. We must bear in mind that a full table at Christmas this year may mean an empty one in the years ahead, so let us choose to keep chairs empty during the Christmas holiday this year.

Let us all remember that the promise of an effective vaccine becoming widely available in 2021 means holiday gatherings are expected to be less risky next year and beyond, a hopeful future that could provide a pandemic-weary nation the resolve to scale down its celebrations this year.
Your actions today are going to protect Christmas next year.

Sincerely,
David Adams