Dear editor,
In the rat race of life in The Gambia, it’s easy to see the glass half full when your chances of taking a sip from the glass are higher than those behind you in the line. But for the majority of the people who are all the way in the back of the line and know the glass will be empty by the time they get to it, the freaking glass is already half empty!
I say this to say that if you’re one of the favored ones, of course you’ll see progress in the midst of retardation; you’ll see development in the midst of destitution; you’ll insist things are getting better even if things are only better for you and not necessarily the majority. You see criticism of your establishment/institution as jealousy or a lack of awareness/education of the system. Never mind that many that criticize your institution don’t only feed you, they live and breathe that system that you are supposedly improving. But in your orbit, everyone else is ignorant and stupid except those in your circle closest to the half-full glass.
If you are of the favored ones, the glass will remain half full and you’ll probably never understand why others see the glass half empty. Once favored, you lose your sense of humanity. In your mind, all people do is complain about their hardship. In your mind, they too should have scrambled and worked harder to be favored. In your mind, their lack of progress, their destitution is of their own making. In your mind, the glass will remain half full especially if those who are drinking from the glass are your colleagues, friends and or family! You don’t just become the gatekeeper of the half-full glass so that you and yours can continue drinking, you become the favored reference and peddler of despair disguised as hope. “You must see the glass half full” becomes your mantra. You promote mediocrity as excellence. You conflate any data on growth with development. You see ample where there’s scarcity. In so doing, you lose your humanity. You remind me of Pa Modou Gassama, a man that called himself Jungle Sunrise; he of Gambia-L notoriety whose blinkered vision couldn’t see anything but the positive in a world of tyranny. “Progress is being made” was his mantra. His glass remained half full even if it was the blood of victims that he drank. He deadened his conscience to satisfy his handlers! Those who claim they are not on social media but have hound dogs chasing after anyone that mentions anything of interest to them.
In the end, let your glass remain half full, but let others also decide that the glass is half empty. Not everyone is as favored as you. And since you lost your ability to feel the pain of others, some of us understand why you will always see the glass half full. You are not the first to see things that way and project yourself as the rock of Gibraltar who defends everything and anything for those you serve. Over the years, some of us saw your type and know your game of opportunism very well. In the end, all you reap is notoriety and attention.
Alagie Saidy-Barrow
In quest for answers on the 2022 OIC Summit
Folks, I find it incomprehensible that there are still incessant radio and television advertisements in the country promoting the fallacious notion that the OIC conference will take place in The Gambia from the 21st of October to the 9th of November, 2022. Hey, is today not Friday the 21st of October 2022, the starting date? Any signs that the meeting will start today and end on the 9th of November, in eighteen days’ time? No evidence of that!
Hence, it is obvious that the summit will not take place in the country this year while the government chose to remain mute instead of informing us about its postponement or when The Gambia will host it again, if ever.
After driving by the conference center on the coastal-road highway this morning and noticing that the inscription on the gate there also reads that the conference will take place on the above-scheduled date, I hope my suggestion as a concerned to remove that sign forthwith will be respected.
Anyway, what I will also suggest for immediate action is to cease all the promising advertisements about the fantastic event this year and for government to candidly tell us whether the summit is ever going to happen in the country again; and if yes, when?
Government being quiet about it with perhaps the expectation that nobody will ask any questions is certainly delusional. It merely substantiates carelessness and brazen incompetence.
Samsudeen Sarr
