Latest update May 10th, 2024 12:59 AM
Sep 08, 2014 Letters
Dear Editor,
I would like to respond to KN article on August 31, 2014, “Strong-willed engineer, Rohan Doodnauth, is a ‘Special Person.’”
In my opinion, he is an extraordinary and inspiring person. In a society plague by beggars, laziness, people who want to be pitied, and people who are always looking for a handout, Rohan stands out as a different breed. He doesn’t believe in begging. He likes to work hard and doesn’t want to be pitied.
He also doesn’t believe in giving up; he is unbelievably resilient. Nothing can hold him back, not a broken spine, not thieves who robbed him, and not even the wheelchair to which he is confined to. Men like him are born that way; they’re not made that way.
When life gives them lime, they make lime drink (swank) with it. They never give up, and they never, never, surrender. They never asked, why me? Rather, they say why not me. They never see themselves as victims but as victorious.
In addition, they always turn tragedy in to triumph. After he suffered a spinal injury, Rohan used his set back to teach school drop-outs welding so that they can better themselves. And in the process of them bettering themselves, he became better. You have to give in order to receive. He gave to the boys, and he received a new and better life from God.
His disability didn’t make him a stronger man; rather it revealed to him the man he was on the inside. Tragedy doesn’t make us who we are , it reveal to us who we are.
After the tragedy, he felt down and depressed, but he refused to stay down and depressed; instead, he chose to stand up and fight against the depression. It’s a fact that during adversity, most people chose to stay down and give up rather than get up and not give up, but not Rohan, he is not like most people.
During our adversity, God always sends a messenger to bring hope and comfort. In Rohan’s case, God sent him a messenger (one of Rohan’s friends). God’s messenger encouraged him to open a machine shop, which he did. God will only send the messenger when we are willing to do what He says.
Rohan listened to the advice because he didn’t want to spend his life depending on people for handouts. This is why he refused to take gifts from people who felt sorry for him. He believed that people who chose to be pitied will remain poor, and those who refused to be pitied will become rich.
To succeed in life, he believed that it’s better to give a man or woman a fishing pole than a fish.
The messenger of God told Rohan he wanted him to become a teacher and to teach boys how to weld.
Editor, always remember that a tragedy can make us better or bitter. His tragedy made him better. He believes that whenever a person encounters a tragedy, the best way to overcome it is to try to help others and not yourself, and by helping others, we are helping ourself.
I believe Rohan picked the most difficult group (school drop-outs) of boys to help because no one else wanted to help them. Nobody wants to work with school drop-outs; most of them are dunces, lazy, indisciplined, and rejects. I know this for a fact because I was a school drop-out.
And I believe that if it wasn’t for the accident, Rohan probably wouldn’t want to work with them either, but the accident made him more compassionate and gave him compassion for them.
Even though I have never met Rohan, his story of perseverance, determination, and resilience inspired me; he is an unusually rare disabled person and an even rarer human being. Editor, I would like to encourage you to start a weekly column in your newspaper on inspiring Guyanese living inside and outside of Guyana. And I would like to nominate Rohan for the special person of year award. Here is my short list of special people: GHK Lall and Christopher Ram.
Anthony Pantlitz
It is disgusting that our teachers have to protest in the streets for a…
May 10, 2024
– President Ali visits Guyana National Stadium By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports – Yesterday, the National Assembly successfully passed the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies Bill, 2024,...Kaieteur News – This column does not respond to criticisms, except where there is misrepresentation of what was said... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]