One of the fruits would be some display of friendliness, creating a win/win situation for all concerned. Each side has to make a decision to avoid playing to the gallery and insisting that because the position taken may be the right one, it must never be surrendered to the enemy on the other side at any cost. The ultimate consequence of such an attitude is that the gaps between us widen and everything is seen as a cause for war.

The situation in certain sections of Demerara, more specifically Georgetown and parts of the East Coast, is directly attributable to this pre-occupation by everybody with being right. Most of us comprise the lookers-on who long to see the emergence of a new spirit of cooperation and understanding on the part of those to whom we look for leadership. The old spirit is slowly poisoning the nation and little notice seems to be taken of the heart-rending cries for peace and a chance to live a normal life.

Life is short and the possibility of wasting most of it through no fault of their own constitutes a dreaded nightmare for so many people. And so some choose to flee. This is what one of the leading newspapers in Barbados had to say of us - "Many of the Guyanese who come to Barbados do so because they find life in their homeland intolerable. Guyana is racked by political and racial strife not to mention the upsurge of crime. People have been forced to seek refuge elsewhere..."

As a Guyanese I am pained by these words but by our deeds we invite such comments about our country. I am pleading with our leaders that they try once more to have genuine dialogue, that they set out to build genuine relationships. We have had enough of analyses and learned dissertations about our situation.

Let us see now some attempt at being friendly and civilised. Away with behaviour that tells supporters on either side that we are not prepared to yield even one inch to the enemy. The only road to progress is by way of mutual respect and friendliness. If we are not going to take that road then I suggest that we drop the term dialogue and substitute in its place a more adversarial term, one more in keeping with what seems to be the current approach to dialogue. But in doing so we will be rejecting our only opportunity of moving forward as a nation.