Dear Editor,
After three months of telling the truth for a few, and for others, telling tales, September 1st has arrived.
It is the decisive day when a dream becomes a reality and also, a nerve wrecking day when a dream may become a nightmare! The Government has declared today as a national holiday.
Even the land where dreams come true, the Land of the Braves, has declared today as a national holiday, Labor Day. It is a day when Guyanese will exercise their civic and civil duty to cast their votes to elect their favorite, their family and their friend, to preside over this land of many waters and races for another five years.
Will today be the day the music died, or, the earth stood still, or, where eagles dare? Today is definitely the day of retribution, reckoning and reconciliation for the Guyanese electorate. The famous comedian, Jerry Lewis, made an unreleased movie, “The Day the Clown Cried.” Regardless of the individual identifying in any interesting introspect, one thing doesn’t change, i.e., today is another day in the year 2025 and it marks the beginning of the month of September.
Historically, the world may choose to remember a few infamous and unforgettable incidents which occurred on the 1st of September: in 1894, over 400 people died in a forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota; in 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake wrecked Tokyo and Yokohama, killing 105,000 people; in 1939, the European phase of World War 11 began when Germany and Slovakia invaded Poland; in 1961, the deadliest single plane crash ever to be recorded was TWA Flight 529 taking off from Midway Airport in Chicago and killing all 78 people on board; in 1983 during the Cold War, a Soviet jet fighter shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 a commercial aircraft, and killed all 269 on board, including Lawrence McDonald; in 1985, an American-French expedition led by Robert Ballard, discovered the wreck of Titanic.
Meteorological Fall begins on September 1st, the day when leaves change its color and some may fall as the days progress in the Autumn Season. Will there be any correlation for Guyanese? It is a transition from Summer to Fall, bringing with it a change in the weather, the landscapes and people’s routines. Will this day translate to any significant shift in the political landscape in Guyana?
For some, the gnawing summer’s humidity may begin to disappear, bringing a certain amount of gloom as the school season starts! Soon, for some Guyanese, will there be room for doom and gloom or a voom to bloom? Shortly, time will tell. Later, with the counting of the valid votes from the ballot boxes, will the fate of some politicians be sealed as the results will reveal?