ATTACK ON AMERICA
Messages from
the President of the Republic of
Guyana
and
Guyana's Ambassador in the United
States of America
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MESSAGE
BY HIS EXCELLENCY BHARRAT JAGDEO, PRESIDENT
OF THE REPUBLIC OF GUYANA TO THE
INTER-FAITH MEMORIAL SERVICE, NEW YORK SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2001 On
Tuesday, September 11, 2001, several thousand persons, including a number
of Guyanese nationals, lost their lives suddenly.
On them, death rained from the skies, or so it seemed.
And we are left to mourn their loss…our loss.
In the face of a tragedy of such proportions silence seems to be
the only appropriate response.
But I am reminded of the wise words of William
Shakespeare:
“Live sorrow words; the grief that does not speak, Death
is almost always a painful thing.
When it comes to people in their youth, or in the prime of their
lives; and when it comes so tragically and in such an unexpected fashion
as it did to our Guyanese brothers and sisters on September 11, in that
disaster of such mind-boggling dimensions, the wrenching pain is
unbearable and the grief unsupportable.
And the mind uncomprehending, asks:
Why? And again, Why? I
have this image of my Guyanese fellows sneeringly burnt on my mind and
savagely tattooed on my soul:
There they lie, struck down in full bloom.
Death lies on them like some blight on my country’s fairest
flowers. Maybe
Thomas Gray has it right:
“The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power But
why so unexpectedly, so tragically and so soon?
And why these sisters and brothers, these fathers and mothers?
Why? To
die is always sad. But sadder still to die without realizing one’s potential.
And saddest yet to die a death so meaningless and avoidable like
that, that struck so disastrously on September 11. As
to the whys and wherefores of this tragedy, my friends, there will never
be a satisfactory answer, not now, not ever.
But this I know: This is our grief and we must bear it calmly,
heroically and with dignity. And, if it is any consolation to you who have lost loved
ones, let me say to you with every sincerity:
I, and your fellow Guyanese, feel in our hearts the pain that has
been breaking yours since this tragedy. As
we meet here today to mourn the loss of our people and celebrate their
lives, fate and faith remind us of the norms of civilized society with its
attendant fragilities. To provide comfort to grieving family members, and
to garner some understanding of the tragedy, we must pause and reflect at
this memorial gathering. For us Guyanese, the memorial has a special meaning in the
context of dual citizenship which many of our foreign nationals enjoy.
Many of the deceased shared this duality of status proudly, recognised as
they were, as both Guyanese and American citizens.
As Guyanese, and as Americans, they were hardworking, productive
citizens. They had strong
family ties and values. They worked hard for a living to support relatives
in the US and back in the land of their birth, Guyana.
They worshipped through different faiths and prayed daily for
guidance, understanding that fate might have its own design, agenda or
prescription of how things will turn out.
This humbling ever-presence of the unknown serves, usually, to
anchor us more deeply to and to cherish the joys and gifts of daily
living. And we can say accurately that our departed nationals lived such
lives. More than that, they were good citizens. And
yet we also meet to celebrate. We celebrate the gifts that the lives of
the slain produced. We celebrate, too, that collective spirit of courage
that has produced, in the aftermath of the catastrophe, so many heroes and
precious, endearing memories of the best in human values that have been so
apparent. I
implore you to dig deep into your several faiths – Hinduism,
Christianity, Islam – to find that consolation and hope, that your faith
offers. In ordinary times you
may have faith; in extraordinary times you must have faith.
May our common grief and sense of loss, remind us of our common
humanity and draw us closer to one another.
And let us resolve so to live and serve in our time and generation
that in the words of our national poet, Martin Carter: “Death must not
find us thinking that we die”. I
urge you as you struggle to accept and integrate this great loss in your
lives, and as you seek to honour the fond memories of the dear departed
that you pledge that their dying would not be in vain. You
and I must eschew violence and the things that make for violence and set
people against people in death-dealing hate.
We must seek the peace that our several faiths teach, for
ourselves; we must promote it assiduously; we must teach it to our
children; that ours may be a better world and country in which people will
not live in fear or die at the hand of violence. Guyana
supports the efforts to rein in terror and, though a small country with
few resources, we pledge our full cooperation in the global determination
to root out terrorism. So
will we give meaning and significance to the meaningless and senseless
deaths of our countrymen and women. And,
rising from the ashes of that baneful disaster, will be a new and
triumphant day of hope for Guyana and the world. To
those of you who grieve, I offer my heartfelt condolences.
And I say to you: “All will be well; and all manner of things
will be well.” We will mourn our loss, but we will have hope. The
pilgrims have dipped beyond the horizon, in the dying twilight, you are
gone friends. We love you.
Good-bye!
REMARKS BY AMBASSADOR ODEEN ISHMAEL AT THE VIGIL AND REMEMBRANCE SERVICE IN HONOR OF THE DEAD AND MISSING GUYANESE IN THE ATTACKS ON THE WORLD TRADE CENTER AND THE PENTAGON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 30, 2001 Mr. Chairman, Man is a clever and wonderful being, and he learns from other animals living in his environment. He studies the eagle and the hummingbird, and builds machines to fly through the air with the greatest ease. He pays attention to the ways of the squirrel and becomes a hoarder. He observes the caterpillar, the elephant, the shark and the crocodile, the lion and the wolf, and makes himself terrible on and below the land and sea. The only creature from which he has not learned something useful is the dove. Maybe, it is because man is yet to learn the qualities of peace, as exemplified by the dove, that we see brutality inflicted every day on innocent lives everywhere in the world. Such savage barbarity was shown by the vile, foul and contemptible acts of destruction of September 11 in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. On the day after the terrorist attacks I had the honor of addressing the United Nations General Assembly on behalf of the Caribbean and Latin American countries to condemn the acts of terrorism. Then last week I spoke at two important meetings of the Organization of American States on the same issue on behalf of Guyana. On these occasions I expressed our condemnation of the dastardly attacks carried out against the United States of America, and took the opportunity of saluting the courage of the firemen, police officers, doctors, nurses, and all others who gave their lives in a display of valor and courage that will be forever remembered. We offer our sympathies to the families from the United States and all other countries who have lost loved ones in the September 11 attacks. We also urge the international community to strengthen its resolve to condemn and root out all forms of terrorism which present a serious threat to international peace and security. At the same time, the international community must reaffirm that those responsible for the terrible deeds of September 11 must be brought to justice. I offer sincere condolences to all my Guyanese compatriots for the heart-rending pains they are suffering at the loss of their loved ones. All of us are aware that many are still listed as missing, but as the days go by, the slender thread of hope that they will return home becomes thinner and thinner. Let me address the grieving families. Mere words cannot express our emotions of sympathy to you. But we hope that the spirit of this gathering today will help to provide a measure of comfort to all of you, and to let you know that we as Guyanese collectively share your pain. As we gather here to keep vigil and remember those who will never return home, I reflect on the immortal words of our national poet, the great Martin Carter. In his classic poem, “Death of a Comrade,” penned nearly fifty years ago, he expressed the emotions that we feel today when he wrote: Dear Comrade,
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