Poppa, responsibilitiesof children and Obama

Egerton Chang, Contributor

I first travelled overseas when I was 21 years old. It was to Montreal, Canada. I was going to attend McGill University to do my master's of business administration (MBA). I had resolved that the only way I would attend university overseas would be on a scholarship so that I would not require any assistance from my parents. I had pledged that to myself. That is why I attended the University of the West Indies (UWI), the first in my family to attend university in Jamaica.

Independent I was, and my double first-class honours resulted in this scholarship (Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship). It took care of everything, even providing a per diem allowance before I left these shores. (Thanks, Prof Lalor for writing one of my recommendations). That's the first time I encountered the term 'per diem'.

When I was leaving for the airport, my father came to me and said, "Take this." He had some money in his hand. I said, "No Poppa, I don't need it."

My brother took me aside and said, "Paulie, take it. You don't see you are hurting his feelings." I took the money.

That's the last time I saw my father alive. Poppa died one year later, when I was still in Montreal. It is ironic that, as it turned out, the money he gave me paid for my airline ticket to attend his funeral.

I was always conscious of the fact that as a child, I had certain responsibilities. 'Children should be seen and not heard' was the mantra in the family. One could understand this as with 13 children to adulthood living under one roof, it could get rather noisy and confusing. I learnt that if I couldn't help, the least I could do was to get out of the way.

Poppa, Percy or Pops, led by example. He didn't have to teach us everything. He showed us that with his hard work, whatever he made was ours in a collective way. It was up to us to follow. Come to think about it, Chang's Emporium, Jamaica's first supermarket, which he and Momma started, had a motto 'Chang leads others follow', that had this element of leading by example.

We, the younger set, had quite a few examples to follow. Our sisters, all five older than us, were very industrious and quite bright, four of them gaining first, second, and third degrees, and the fifth acting as our surrogate mother. They were our models.

I firmly believe that children have certain responsibilities to their parents (read guardians) directly, and to the wider community, generally. I would hate to think that it was solely because of my Chinese upbringing that I was conscious of my responsibility at an early age. To help wrap sugar, salt (I hated the moist, sticky feel), bird seed, etc. To clean out the bird cages, that my father kept, at least once per month. To wash the yard every Sunday. It was not a case of being forced to work. Rather, it was more a matter of trying to be less of a burden.

We are constantly bombarded with the rights of children. But children need to do their part also. Every little bit helps. If a child can try not to leave anything at home when leaving for school in the morning, this would greatly alleviate the strain on the parent. Or making sure they do their homework. Or washing the dishes. Or ironing their school uniforms.

We can all think of little ways a child could make our lives easier. Even if they cannot do that little bit, then at least don't get into trouble that will complicate the life of their parent/guardian. We have enough of a hard time trying to provide for the family.

AMERICAN MIDTERM ELECTIONS

On election day, November 4, 2008, I was bold to predict the election of Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. I penned a letter to the editor of this esteemed newspaper titled, 'Thanks George (Bush)', in which I, in effect, attributed George Bush with the election of Barack Obama. It stated:

"If not for Bush demeaning the United States in the eyes of the world by the war in Iraq and the policies surrounding it, for instance, the false premises and Guantánamo Bay, if not for the policies that created the financial/housing crisis and concurrent recession that has occupied the country for the last six months at least, if not for the persistent arrogance displayed by the Bush administration, the groundswell for change and Barack Obama would not have been possible."

That letter ended "Thanks George. George did it."

While all the pundits and commentators were saying that Obama's election showed the end of racism in America, I would have added my own take. Obama won in spite of the prejudice. I felt that if there was no racial bias, he would have won by at least three percentage points more.

Midterms

Now comes the midterms. And if one were to close one's eyes, one could easily imagine a similar set of conditions. Except the shoe is now on the other foot.

When the midterms are over, I venture to say that the phrase: "Thanks, Barack. Barack did it" might prove appropriate. Not because of the economic problems and the lack of jobs, jobs, jobs. Not because of the health-care bill. Not because of the handling of the BP oil spill (compare the Chilean handling of their mining disaster and the successful rescue mission).

Instead, it would be because of Obama's obsession with working with the Republicans. He pursued his obsession to a fault. He compromised so much it has eroded his base and his independent support.

The following information was gleaned from the Office of the Clerk, US House of Representatives for the 111th Congress 2nd Session (2010) website.

The current senate split is 57 Democrats and 41 Republicans with two vacancies, while there are 255 Democratic members in the House of Representatives vs 178 Republicans and two vacancies.

As the eIections will be held before my next column is published, I now predict that the Democrats will hold on to the Senate, but barely, at 52 to 48. I also predict the Republicans taking control of the House by 234 to 201, a virtual reversal of fortune.

Let the games begin!

Egerton Chang is a businessman who may be reached at e_rider69@hotmail.com. Feedback may also be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.