Coil: Unfollowing Negativity, Following Positivity
by Vidyaratha Kissoon
The man looked good. He had put on a bit of weight, his shoulders seemed square. His entire face relaxed when he smiled and he was smiling a lot. He said that he had unfollowed me and others on Facebook who were overwhelmingly negative . For those who do not know, unfollow is not a word used by those who are not on social media.
He asked “You already have mental health problems… don’t people on Facebook make you feel more crazy?”
The man had not unfriended me . I know I have unfriended a few people because their comments and so on saddened me. I unfollowed a few others too.
It is so easy to be consumed in negativity. Philosophers could debate the whole thing about positive and negative. The Facebook news feed shows the elation and the despair at exactly the same links sometimes.
Guyana’s change in Government is positive for some, negative for others. The reports of robberies where the robbers escape are good for the robbers, their families and the people who earn money from the goods and services they buy.
Guyana is going to continue with Baishanlin – good news for Baishanlin , and their friends, bad news for those who were told Baishanlin would disappear.
President Granger and the APNU+AFC coalition will not move Minister Lawrence from her role as Minister of Social Protection. They will not instruct Councillor Harding to resign from his post .
They won't order any investigation into the reasons why the file went missing on the last child abuse case in which the Councillor was allegedly involved. Positive news for the supporters of the coalition, bad news for all those who thought prevention of child sexual abuse would be one of the things which would rise above party politics.
The family and friends of the man who had liquor in the SUV in the Coverden Smash this week must be relieved that their family interaction and family values were not up for analysis in the papers. No charges have been laid as yet.
The news that President Granger stepped in and handed over the D’urban Park Restoration to Minister Patterson must be welcome news to the people who were wondering about the stands and so.
The Minister has committed to two shifts working over the next 21 days it seems. I am heartened by this news. We have been waiting for a year or so for culverts to be fixed in Subryanville to enable good drainage so maybe after the jubilee if the MoPI workers are not too tired with the ‘jubilating’, they will be able to fix the culverts within 21 days too.
There is some news that the RDC has not been able to meet in Region 5. The APNU+AFC memebrs protest the lack of apology from the Regional Chairman about his alleged boycott of a bus handing over ceremony. He says he was not invited. In August 2015, I had the privilege of hearing Minister Amna Ally apologise to a Region 3 Official who asked why the Regional Officials were not at the head table at an outreach event. The Region 10 officials were at the head table at a similar event in Region 10. This Region 5 janjhat probably needs an intervention by the Minister of Social Cohesion.
There are some things which are confusing – the negative and positive. There are queries about the 5 million US for the GTT shares – apparently NICIL was involved. However, there is great positivity though since the woman from NICIL who is in the China pictures with Minister Harmon has not said another word about that trip. However, 5 million US is probably neither here nor there. There is news that Guyana will pay a lot of money to host the CPL. This is good news for the CPL people whoever they are, and bad news well, for those people who think that the Government did not have money to pay them.
The smiling man who had unfollowed me sent a link to an article about the increase in suicides in the United States. I was worried that he was getting into the negativity again.
The media in Guyana it seems has reduced the reporting of suicides. There was a different story this week. Two men helped a suicidal woman at the Demerara Harbour Bridge . People welcomed the news of the men’s assistance, one or two people thinking that the men should be given National Awards. It seems as though the men are not seeking publicity – one of the news reports I have seen mention the names of the men.
Some of the philosophical traditions explain that the best service is given anonymously.
There are other random acts of kindness. A security guard this week tried to intervene on my behalf at a public office closed for lunch. The public officers though told her they were closed for lunch and her efforts were in vain. The guard was apologetic when she told me.
I also tried to be nice to the security guards at the Guyana Revenue Authority. They are very committed to their job and I think any robber or tax cheat would feel intimidated. I could imagine that is why DDL did not turn up to pay their taxes and why Baishanlin preferred to go through the Chinese Embassy and Minister Harmon.
I wanted to be nice and positive with the security. The exchange went something like this.
“Good morning “ with a nice smile
“.. keys, cell phone, weapons out hey .. “
“How are you this morning?”
“Come tru..come tru, open yuh bag fuh bag check.. “
I hope the guards have a nice time at the jubilee celebrations connecting with fellow jubilant Guyanese away from the formality of GRA.. I could imagine post jubilee scene at the gate..
“You are not allowed in with the sleeveless. . eh eh.. but is you again, you was in dat nice green and yellow blouse and you and me was waiving de same flag an sing Let us Co-operate..”
In other positive news I gave a woman money. She asked for a raise. I looked at the grey roots of her dyed hair and shut my mouth about asking ‘but is wheh you get money fuh dye yuh hair’?”
I asked her how she was doing, and she said that she got problems, she has to move out. She needed money for kero. She asked me to by a jellabie for her from over the road. I was going to lecture her on the evils of sugar and sweet but I had a bag of bruk mout (coconut biscuits/shingles) in one hand. I took the other hand and gave her some more money. The motivation was not to do God’s work or to get enough Facebook likes from the people who are still following me. The motivation was guilt.
Guilt motivated positivity is probably better than none at all
The man looked good. He had put on a bit of weight, his shoulders seemed square. His entire face relaxed when he smiled and he was smiling a lot. He said that he had unfollowed me and others on Facebook who were overwhelmingly negative . For those who do not know, unfollow is not a word used by those who are not on social media.
He asked “You already have mental health problems… don’t people on Facebook make you feel more crazy?”
The man had not unfriended me . I know I have unfriended a few people because their comments and so on saddened me. I unfollowed a few others too.
It is so easy to be consumed in negativity. Philosophers could debate the whole thing about positive and negative. The Facebook news feed shows the elation and the despair at exactly the same links sometimes.
Guyana’s change in Government is positive for some, negative for others. The reports of robberies where the robbers escape are good for the robbers, their families and the people who earn money from the goods and services they buy.
Guyana is going to continue with Baishanlin – good news for Baishanlin , and their friends, bad news for those who were told Baishanlin would disappear.
President Granger and the APNU+AFC coalition will not move Minister Lawrence from her role as Minister of Social Protection. They will not instruct Councillor Harding to resign from his post .
They won't order any investigation into the reasons why the file went missing on the last child abuse case in which the Councillor was allegedly involved. Positive news for the supporters of the coalition, bad news for all those who thought prevention of child sexual abuse would be one of the things which would rise above party politics.
The family and friends of the man who had liquor in the SUV in the Coverden Smash this week must be relieved that their family interaction and family values were not up for analysis in the papers. No charges have been laid as yet.
The news that President Granger stepped in and handed over the D’urban Park Restoration to Minister Patterson must be welcome news to the people who were wondering about the stands and so.
The Minister has committed to two shifts working over the next 21 days it seems. I am heartened by this news. We have been waiting for a year or so for culverts to be fixed in Subryanville to enable good drainage so maybe after the jubilee if the MoPI workers are not too tired with the ‘jubilating’, they will be able to fix the culverts within 21 days too.
There is some news that the RDC has not been able to meet in Region 5. The APNU+AFC memebrs protest the lack of apology from the Regional Chairman about his alleged boycott of a bus handing over ceremony. He says he was not invited. In August 2015, I had the privilege of hearing Minister Amna Ally apologise to a Region 3 Official who asked why the Regional Officials were not at the head table at an outreach event. The Region 10 officials were at the head table at a similar event in Region 10. This Region 5 janjhat probably needs an intervention by the Minister of Social Cohesion.
There are some things which are confusing – the negative and positive. There are queries about the 5 million US for the GTT shares – apparently NICIL was involved. However, there is great positivity though since the woman from NICIL who is in the China pictures with Minister Harmon has not said another word about that trip. However, 5 million US is probably neither here nor there. There is news that Guyana will pay a lot of money to host the CPL. This is good news for the CPL people whoever they are, and bad news well, for those people who think that the Government did not have money to pay them.
The smiling man who had unfollowed me sent a link to an article about the increase in suicides in the United States. I was worried that he was getting into the negativity again.
The media in Guyana it seems has reduced the reporting of suicides. There was a different story this week. Two men helped a suicidal woman at the Demerara Harbour Bridge . People welcomed the news of the men’s assistance, one or two people thinking that the men should be given National Awards. It seems as though the men are not seeking publicity – one of the news reports I have seen mention the names of the men.
Some of the philosophical traditions explain that the best service is given anonymously.
There are other random acts of kindness. A security guard this week tried to intervene on my behalf at a public office closed for lunch. The public officers though told her they were closed for lunch and her efforts were in vain. The guard was apologetic when she told me.
I also tried to be nice to the security guards at the Guyana Revenue Authority. They are very committed to their job and I think any robber or tax cheat would feel intimidated. I could imagine that is why DDL did not turn up to pay their taxes and why Baishanlin preferred to go through the Chinese Embassy and Minister Harmon.
I wanted to be nice and positive with the security. The exchange went something like this.
“Good morning “ with a nice smile
“.. keys, cell phone, weapons out hey .. “
“How are you this morning?”
“Come tru..come tru, open yuh bag fuh bag check.. “
I hope the guards have a nice time at the jubilee celebrations connecting with fellow jubilant Guyanese away from the formality of GRA.. I could imagine post jubilee scene at the gate..
“You are not allowed in with the sleeveless. . eh eh.. but is you again, you was in dat nice green and yellow blouse and you and me was waiving de same flag an sing Let us Co-operate..”
In other positive news I gave a woman money. She asked for a raise. I looked at the grey roots of her dyed hair and shut my mouth about asking ‘but is wheh you get money fuh dye yuh hair’?”
I asked her how she was doing, and she said that she got problems, she has to move out. She needed money for kero. She asked me to by a jellabie for her from over the road. I was going to lecture her on the evils of sugar and sweet but I had a bag of bruk mout (coconut biscuits/shingles) in one hand. I took the other hand and gave her some more money. The motivation was not to do God’s work or to get enough Facebook likes from the people who are still following me. The motivation was guilt.
Guilt motivated positivity is probably better than none at all
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