Dear Editor,
Your news item `Four teens of Guyanese parentage die in horrific N.Y. crash’ (SN Oct 10) is heart wrenching. It is every parent’s dread nightmare to get a visit or phone call from the police saying that your child died in a crash. My sympathy is with all the families of the victims. The objective in this commentary is to learn from the crash and to repeat it as too many youngsters have been killed from our small community in America.
The Guyanese tightly knit community in Richmond Hill is in mourning over the untimely death of these youngsters on the Southern State in Long Island, just outside of Queens County. Everywhere I went in Richmond Hill on Tuesday afternoon, it was the subject of conversation – in stores, on the streets, in homes, on the phones, and in bars. The homes of the victims were inundated with visitors.
Even the home of the driver of the vehicle, I was told was the subject of visits and phone calls. People have come together to pray for the victims and their families. My students (both Guyanese and non-Guyanese) talked about the crash. Some of my students know the youngsters who died and they focused on the driver who should never have been behind the wheel unsupervised. Although they are upset with the youngsters for being out so late and the parents everyone is compassionate and they grieve with and for the families. Friends of the victims established a makeshift memorial at the crash site with lit candles and also offered prayers.
The crash has raised a lot of questions and it is to be hoped that a lesson is learned. Why was a 17 year old kid with only a learner’s permit allowed to be behind a wheel? And why was he driving at 3:30 in the morning when he should be resting after a late night of studies having just entered college? Ditto for the youngsters being out so late in the wee hours!
At that age at 4:00 in the morning, I was turning pages in the book, not making traffic turns.
Vehicles have been shown to be a deadly weapon among teenagers and particularly so for Guyanese. This was not the first fatal crash with multiple victims among Guyanese youths. A few years ago, several lost their lives in similar circumstances in the wee hours of the morning.
And a few years before that another set of young Guyanese lost their lives in another crash. And prior to that and in between these horrific crashes, there were accidents that took the life of at least one Guyanese. In virtually all of the cases, kids were behind the wheels with hardly any driving experience and without much supervision.
Worse, their parents bought them an expensive car as a gift for graduation from high school or excelling in their studies at college or a birthday present – bad mistake. A kid should show maturity and ability to handle a tough situation without supervision before a parent puts him or her in charge of a vehicle. Parents need to learn a lesson from these crashes or fatal accidents. Rewarding young children is great but not with vehicles with which they can harm themselves. When I was growing up, I did not get a car until I finished graduate studies and obtained a job. And no one bought me a car. I had to buy it with my own hard earned savings while struggling to pay a mortgage and at the same time contribute to the struggle to liberate Guyana from the dictatorship.
A car did not bring me and so many other youngsters success when we were growing up in earlier decades. A commitment to studies and volunteering to uplift the lives of others have brought success and with education came the home and the car. Parents should consider buying their children a lap top computer or an I-Pad or some books to broaden their horizon.
Youngsters should be reading instead of driving on the highway in the wee hours of the morning. And there is no greater gift for a youngster than a college education.
In Guyana, we used to celebrate or reward success with a religious service. In N.Y., a birthday milestone or educational achievement may get a youngster a car and unfortunately, as with this accident, can result in fatalities, broken limbs and permanent psychological scars. It is hoped parents would learn something from this fatal accident and reconsider gifting children a vehicle with unsupervised driving.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
