THIS article was inspired by Ruel Johnson’s piece on ‘Youth in Politics’ carried in the October 10, 2017 edition of the Guyana Chronicle that puts the spotlight on the prejudices of ‘Ageism’, though the article in itself is an analogy of the evolution of young people in local politics.

This was compounded by the appointment of Justice Patterson to the Chair of GECOM, about whose age much has been said.
Four years ago I marvelled at Irving Kahn, the American investor and philanthropist, who, at 106, was still running his New York City family business.
He would pass away on February 24, 2015 at the ripe old age of 109, so I have a different take on the age issue.
My father was around 39 when he told me: “Stupid, wicked and scampish people does grow old, so old ain’t always wisdom.
“And some young people born stupid, and gon dead stupid, so don’t be one ah dem.” That, at an early age, defined my take on the question of age.
The first person to discuss Egyptology with me, and introduce me to Cheikh Anta Diop, one of the greatest minds of modern Africa, was one Mr H.H. Nicholson.
I took a while to read that book. Nicholson was in his mid-80s at the time, I believe. He donated his home and collection of African art to create the first and still only African museum of Guyana.
By comparison, the example of Bharrat Jagdeo, who was thrown into power by, in my opinion, a very bitter Mrs Janet Jagan. Nicknamed ‘De Lil Bwoy’, Jagdeo was young, brash and proved a tremendous disaster for this country. I need not elaborate; and he does not stand alone on modern history’s stage. Pol Pot, Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin were all young men whose problem lay in defying the values that allowed them to rise to prominence; to project ideas that were in defiance of the foundations on which they stood.

PASSIONS OF POPULARITY

The dragon of the ego belched forth the passions of popularity that consumes reason, logic and the uncomfortable acceptance of an alternative external position. To some extent, both young Burnham and Jagan committed errors that could have been avoided, had they advisers that were not colonials but were previously nation builders.
Jagan’s governance did bankrupt the colony, and Burnham’s ideological heroism brought us to our knees. It took the political elder at that point, Desmond Hoyte, to resurrect Guyana, and ‘De Lil Bwoy’, Bharrat, to undo it all within a decade.
Some years ago, Raphael Trotman suggested the formation of a Council of Elders. That idea coincided with the one I had about recording personalities in culture as well as social trends. In Guyana, we do not document our history as it unfolds; that is why crooks and charlatans are able to lie and convince good people. We live in a different age today: Our seniors are healthier, their minds are sharp, and they’re physically fit enough.
Llewellyn John, at 93, is still winning cases. Imagine that! Scientists are predicting that with the health knowledge available, humans can last say at least 150 years, but the stress of living is killing most of us at a young age.
The concerns about Justice Patterson has little to do with age; the lamentations are political, and rest with the double agendas of the public opinion mirage-makers of our time in business and politics.
But to get back to considerations of the national knowledge-base of documenting our senior human resources, much has still to be done for the archives etc, though measures are being put in place for centres of special research.
The president’s former residence is being prepared in that respect; the process has to be widened further, also to all edutainment dimensions.

KREOLE DAY
In 2012, on the 200th Anniversary of Georgetown, I presented a concept called “Kreole Day” to the steering committee of ACDA. With no resources but the amicable collaboration of the then Mayor and other sympathetic ears, we pulled it off, showcasing craft, fashion and artworks. There was a TV programme, and Mayor Hamilton Green was invited. He took the programme over through his contribution that consisted of his detailed knowledge about the development of modern Georgetown. I and my colleagues were intrigued. My next encounter was last year when, for the first time, I had a friendly group chat with Oscar Clarke at the Skeldon Energy Inc. Office. He related some diplomatic engagements that Burnham had in Russia, and some of his own experiences as Home Affairs Minister.
Again, I panicked. Are these episodes documented to prevent a young Guyana to not try to reinvent the wheel, through a wealth of functional knowledge?
Next was my buddy Ronald Austin, veteran diplomat. The things I learn from these gentlemen further empowered my national awareness, and damn my hopelessness that I’m unable to finance both electronic and physical documentations.
The question of age that has been brought to the fore unveils an imbalance in our understanding of how the First World nations stay ahead. America, The UK, China, Singapore, South Africa, Brazil and Canada are separated from their knowledge-base of elders only through death. And by then they would have documented all that is needed to be known.
A close friend from West Ruimveldt, who was like family, passed recently. Her eldest daughter sat with me and complained about anomalies in employment in Canada where she now lives.

THAT’S LIFE
“It’s not fair, Barry; they’re not employing the young graduates who’ve got student loans to pay. They’re employing senior guys because of their experience,” she said.
I sheepishly shrugged my shoulders, because, if tomorrow I have the finance to serve the global market with my graphic art magazines, and I need inking and colourists with a knowledge of best paper preferences, resources in licensing to other language audiences with a knowledge of Who’s Who to connect the dots, who am I going to engage? The University graduate or the proven graduate of the industry?
There’s a thing called ‘cropping’ during wartime, where newly arrived officers with the arrogance of military academy are allowed to pick up the apparent souvenir enemy general’s ceremonial hat left casually. The new officer is allowed to eagerly reach for it. His own veteran subordinates are aware that it is most likely booby trapped. They do this to prevent him from inevitably getting them killed.
So, yes youth! Embodying the future must be involved in politics; they must be tutored in its written and non-fiction oral history. They must understand why they must beware the ‘Greeks bearing gifts’, thus they must read the relevant Homer, and know to be careful who you dine with.
The best people to teach you this are the chefs of yesterday, who are here today with half a century’s wisdom to tell the myriad tale.