Today is my birthday; I wish my parents were alive
Kaieteur News – This column is a memoir. It’s my birthday today. As I reflect on the years gone by, I have no regrets about my social evolution. I have no regrets to go up to the doctoral level in philosophy and not forensic science or chemistry or medicine.
Had I chosen one of those three routes, I know I wouldn’t have driven a car that crashed after 21 years of service. I know I would have had significant amounts in my bank account. I have no reflections of repentance or chose a more lucrative profession.
I chose to do a PhD in philosophy because I was immersed in the subjects of history and philosophy. Money, even for a fleet moment, was never a consideration in my career choice. Money was never a factor in the way I lived my life. Dr. wrote Mellissa Ifill, AS Vice-Chancellor, last week that my writings on the election dilemma were made because I was fishing for earnings.
Here is a piece of pyrotechnic irony for readers. Believe it or leave it. I earned less money in the Kaieteur News for 2020 ending tomorrow than in previous years. Surely the gains didn’t come as Dr. Ifill. My five-month daily columns on election rigging brought me not one cent.
In fact, Mr. Lall, the owner of these newspapers and I were speaking after the statement on July 31 and expressed some appreciation for my role. He suggested that I should come and see him because he has a bit of a “brake” for me. That “brake” was $ 300,000 and Mr Lall said he had somewhere on his desk. I did not think it would have been appropriate to take the money as a media operator under Mr. Jurisdiction. Lall.
I have not approached Mr. Lall since that conversation to collect the $ 300,000. I appreciate Mr Lall’s encouraging gesture as I did in the past when he suggested he buy me a new car. I refused. Mr. Lall stated that he will buy me a smartphone whenever I am ready. But I told him I was happy with my “mango-pelter.” So my dear readers; in my life on earth, money was never a vocation. So on my birthday, I have no regrets how my life turned out.
My regrets are about my father. I wanted him and my mother to be alive to see me as I grew into old age and nurtured a girl who, in my opinion, is a morally decent man. My father was a good man but he threw his life away. He confronted people over unjustifiable actions but did not know context and did not use context. Like his seven children, including me, he never went beyond primary school.
Undoing my dad was unmanageable unmanageable. If you confront and defeat people, make sure you don’t slip up because they will come after you when you cheat. This is what happened to my father countless times. He wasn’t brave enough when he was sober to tell his employers about their faults. He did when he was drunk. He didn’t have a leg to stand on because he wasn’t union; there was no union involved with cricket field staff.
I followed in his footsteps but grew up with two forts – world-class university education and union membership. At AS, I faced bad people millions of times but I did my job and the union was there for me. I never got into an argument when I was drunk like my dad so at any hearing I could never be in a weak position.
I cannot remember a time in my 42 years of marriage that I spent my birthday with my wife. I’ll do that today and tonight. We no longer give gifts. We give to animal shelter entities. He asked me to make a special wish and I did that. I told her I wanted ham for my birthday. We do not cook pork. She doesn’t eat it. I eat anything.
So yesterday I went looking for ham. Wesley Kirton saw me going through the freezer at Massmarket Supermarket and yelled out, “I hope you buy local ham.” I will not buy any non-local ham. Guyana School of Agriculture told me that their work was finished. I called Aubrey Norton (yes Aubrey makes ham) but he said finish it too. Honestly I didn’t like other local variety. So today, I don’t have a ham for my birthday.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.)