Dear Editor,
The ongoing saga of UG’s 2009 valedictorian, Loria-Mae Heywood, is a grim reminder to us all. I’m all for patriotism and love of country but Loria-Mae Heywood must know that nobody owes her anything. Particularly so in a broken-down, donkey cart economy fuelled by corruption and nepotism. She might be a straight ‘A’ student but she failed the course in reality. I have deep admiration for those who decide to remain in the quagmire of Guyana to wage battle against indiscriminately unfair odds.
Their choice is their right. These people have accepted the consequences of their actions knowing fully well that madmen and a failed system can derail life with shocking ease.
So for Loria-Mae Heywood to reject offers to go abroad it means she must bear the consequences of her choice to remain in Guyana. While she has a right to complain about the failings of the system, this is her bed that she made and she chose to lie in it so lie in it she must. She knew when she refused those offers to migrate that she was at the mercy of ignoramuses, charlatans and the intellectually malleable. That hard work, sacrifice and diligence did not matter. So she must live with her choices.
It is time people stop parroting this hogwash about service to the nation. Service cannot happen when service is not allowed to happen. It cannot happen in an environment of failure. One’s duty is to self first, family next and civic community last in this degenerate environment. The nation is served best by people like Loria-Mae Heywood going abroad and reaching her pinnacle and acquiring the skills that enable her to have choices of staying abroad or returning to her homeland to combat the charlatans.
More importantly, Loria-Mae can better support her family in Guyana if she is abroad. No point serving failure. There is no duty to serve failure, arrogance and ignorance. This has nothing to do with one’s love of nation. Guyana has nothing to offer its people that compares to developed nations.
Comprehensively, the Guyanese people have fared better in other lands. Better environment, value for labour, actual jobs, safer environments, finer amenities, superior service, less crime, fewer ignoramuses, more morality, better education, fewer of those with party cards bossing one around and greater opportunities and challenges and more money to send home to help buttress the Guyana economy. One can be the best patriot one can be from somewhere other than Guyana too.
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell
