People choose a calling because that is how they see themselves

May 03, 2019 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

In this country, once you have lots of money, you see people who do not have wealth as not worthy of being in your company. Once you have a certain kind of status (famous engineer, famous surgeon), you think others are not worthy to socialize with you.
It never occurs to such persons in this world that some of us choose our calling because we think that is what we want to do with our lives; that is what makes us live on and not a bundle of money.
Forty-one years ago I married into a family that had a thriving business. My wife refused to carry it on when her mother gave it to her. I was not interested; I enjoyed teaching at UG. Had we taken over the business, the wealth would have come. My wife loved her engineering work. I loved teaching at UG.
Has it ever occurred to people that civilization would have died a long time ago if we all on Planet Earth wanted to start a company and make countless dollars? There would have been no Shakespeare, Einstein, Gandhi, Mandel, Bob Marley, Lionel Messi, Pele, Don Bradman, Brian Lara, Gorbachev, Stephen Hawking, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden etc.
Not every soul in a civilized community wants to have a private jet, yacht, and mansion. For countless people in the world those things do not enter their minds.
I have no interest in being invited to dinner by any ambassador. I have no interest in socializing with people who are considered the crème de la crème of Guyana. With the same attitude, I don’t give a rabbit’s ass what people say about me.
You can fly your private jet with your jet-setting friends and laughingly look down on me driving my old car and I would be unmoved.
Don’t ever think if you step on the wrong side of me, your wealth and status would intimidate me. I will tell you to put your wealth and status where the monkey put the nuts. This was my problem with Miles Fitzpatrick. People treated Fitzpatrick as a god. He wasn’t a god in my eyes. We disagreed and since no one can tell a god that he is wrong because it exposes his infallibility, Fitzpatrick hated me. That didn’t deter me. I featured him negatively in my columns based on what I knew of him.
It is against this background that I write this column based on a conversation I had in the National Park on Labour Day with a long-standing politician. Confidentiality was requested of me and I gave my word. He said that the story of so many politicians in Guyana is yet to be told and he thanked me for my columns.
He dealt with a specific individual that I had written about. I remember his words – “I know because I was there.” He cited the case of someone who refused to be a minister because the salary was not to his liking. He asserted he could not work for a minister’s salary.
Requested several times to serve, he refused. Then, when the time was right he told his comrades, he was interested in the presidential slot for his party. This confidante said, “Freddie, he couldn’t get the support of not one person in his party.”
Jagdeo made no bones about dressing this man down. He reminded this man that he told Dr. Cheddi and Janet Jagan that they could not pay him to serve in any Ministerial capacity.
We were getting settled into discussing history when others came up and that was the end of our discussion. Before he walked away, he said, “Keep writing Freddie, and don’t let them deter you” to which I responded; “You know me.”
I cannot even give a clue as to who this person is because his identity can be revealed but I can tell you this; he is well placed. In running this over with my editor, Adam Harris, he had a broad smile on his face and said, “I could easily guess who he is.” He guessed and I didn’t respond.
I am glad I ran into this guy because as he said the story of so many people around us that we think are trustworthy are not and the facts may never be revealed. I am not going to be scared in writing about places, people and events.
If those who my pen exposes think I am a crazy, a non-entity, narcissist, then, I have news for them. I am happy. I meet people who think I am sane and brave. I meet people who think I should continue in my work.
If those who think I am a nobody, who don’t know much about concepts and how to use them, then, write what you have to write; doesn’t bother me. Never did, never will.

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