As Guyana celebrates its 59^th Anniversary as an Independent Nation, it faces many challenges, just as it did in earlier years. Converting a dependence syndrome into a sense of independence, creating the institutional structures of an independent nation, embarking on economic transformation, confronting the challenges of a deeply divided nation, negotiating a way between the raindrops of the Cold War, securing political power and dealing with the fallout, finding a way out of a colonial economy, and failing, unsuccessfully fending off the slow imposition of dictatorial rule, were some of the early challenges. Guyana’s earlier decades saw only modest economic growth, not sufficient to change reality on the ground, until oil prices went up in the mid-1970s. To cope, the seizure of high profits from the sugar industry, deprived it of capital, the effects of which are being felt today. The destruction of the rice industry took place by the early abandonment of the Cuban market and the nationalization of sale and marketing. The damage caused to these two vital areas of the economy, coupled with the loss of the vote of a section of the population, thereby depriving them of a voice, the later banning of food, affected one section of the population. The fears generated by the final restoration of democracy in 1992, affected the other. The ease with which Guyana can revert to the past by post-election violence, other mass activity sprinkled with sudden upsurges of unrest, and a pre-1992 electoral past, have all shaped  the political attitudes and discourses which we experience today. The Opposition walkout from Parliament on Friday last, sad having regard to the Venezuelan threat, has its roots in this past history. Can it be changed?