We do rise above our positions

Mar 30, 2019 Editorial

Many people grow up with poverty; it was and still is a constant companion. A few sturdy, purposeful souls grow out of it, as in above and beyond. NBA superstar, Lebron James, now worth tens of millions of dollars, perhaps well over a hundred, shares some lessons on how he and his family managed to survive a hardscrabble existence.
Guyana, whether rich or poor, should listen and could learn.
Lebron’s family survived by squeezing, skimping, sacrificing. Government was not seen as saviour; helping hand across the road yes; but traveling alone afterward.
All the great rags to riches sagas are of self-sacrifice; resistance to the enchantment of gaudy exhibitionism. Think Oprah Winfrey, think immigrants seizing dream and converting to something– something above what was known, what came from; something for tomorrow. Serenity comes; and the self-confidence of having nothing to prove.
They are many: independents, street side entrepreneurs, vendors and contractors, sellers and arrangers and middlemen in the domestic arena. Men cleaning fish at the bustling pre-sunlight Meadow Bank wharf. Men selling on those mobile carts (the loud ones)–those rising when the music curfew descends to face the fire, to earn a hard, honest living.
Good stuff. Inspiring energy and vision from the multitude of earners, who are determined to make things happen. On their own. Paying the taxes might neutralize, but they have to scrape and sacrifice; and then still envision going to the next rung up the ladder–a second worker, a second stand, a second line of endeavour. Who needs government? These hardy folks do not. Sometimes they do.
Lebron can tell about the cushion and official hand of food stamps. Food was so plentiful that it was there: right on the top of the fridge. That is some loaded pantry. That is what stokes a burning fire in the belly, a fire that rages and drives toward the impossible.
The impossible cannot be achieved by getting up at close to noon. Daily. Or through turning a muscle and a straw (one only) so as to get enough beer money, and then that’s it for the day. At that rate, local content will inevitably lead to many summers of discontent; endless, tortuous ones.
The citizens who get up are the ones who double down: work ethic, pride, drive, and wanting to get somewhere.
Those who once long endured the harsh, bitter taste of pounding repeating hunger never want to be hungry again. They know when and how (and how sensibly) to treat themselves.
Lebron, a sportsman, the poor man’s hero, tells how he does it, how it should be done. The king likes cars. He can have any and many. Slowly goes it; carefully too. Some of the richest people in the world practise thrift even though they are on top of the financial world: economy cars, own tea bags, frugal lifestyles. It is the art of thrift by those who can afford to splurge.
In a small society with so many easily accessed underground money wells, as well as the charity of overseas family, the temptation to display and live above means comes too smoothly; definitely unthinkingly.
Blaming government, reaching for and leaning on government, only goes so far. The pot is empty; so, too, is the fridge. Continuously.
If the rich, like Lebron, do not wish to prove anything, other than they have learned and grown, and are comfortable with who and what they are. Then, maybe, the armies of dependents and expectants in this country can summon the interest and will to rise above circumstances, even fate.
Fire in the belly. Bright gleam in the eye. And then do to be.

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