I could not help but chuckle to myself today, as I reflected on Mr Basdeo Panday's words at the funeral of his colleague Mr Kelvin Ramnath. Mr Panday must be supremely contented with his life because he has been doing exactly what he was born to do!
If the practice of "politics" is an art-and no doubt it certainly is-Mr Panday is the superlative artiste! He has fine-tuned the art of adversarial politics to the point that he has become the consummate teacher. Those who would pursue this line of work should make a study of the man and his life. Of contemporary politicians, there is none that I can think of that can hold a candle to Mr Panday, save and except Mr Patrick Manning.
Both are extremely charismatic leaders, both have enriched our lives as Trinidadians because the words that emanate from them, as well as their actions, have given us, and continue to give us as a people, unending food for thought. Mind you, some would relish the fare and some would find it repugnant. However, their lives as full human beings are such, that you either love them or you hate them.
They offer no room for indifference or apathy. What I am saying has nothing to do with their politics or policies. I am speaking of them as men who stand head and shoulders above us and as persons who continue to enrich our lives. Say what you will, of the 100 and one tributes paid to Mr Kelvin Ramnath, only one speaker's words will be immortalised! No one will recall anything that anyone said there, except those words spoken by Mr Panday.
Taste cannot be piqued by the bland. There is no room for the lukewarm! We may not agree with his choice of words or may find the occasion ill-suited to the speech, but remember them we will. And you know what is the supreme irony here? Mr Kelvin Ramnath, for the person that he was, must have been relishing what Mr Panday said. In fact, he, perhaps, would have been annoyed had they not been spoken. He seems to have been cut from the same cloth!
Reflecting on Mr Panday's life, there are few local politicians whose lives have been forged in the fires of tribulation such as his has been. His words at that funeral have given life to his claim that he stands up for the underdog-in politics or otherwise.
I can say that his assertion that "politics has a morality of its own" is a statement of profound truth. Those words will be immortalised. We, perhaps, ought to listen more carefully and internalise what our ordinary folk say to us at times. I recall that in one ordinary newspaper poll, I wrote down what one Mr Selwyn Mitchell of Point Fortin said, "Our children are the heart and soul of tomorrow." What can be more poetically profound than that!
Steve Smith
Via e-mail