Dear editor: Is this 21st century parenting? Odai and Samantha Ramischand owe me an apology

“[…] I can see my poor mother now, picking up the rotary phone and dialling the Ministry of Health to try to speak with the minister so she could personally apologise to him. And then she’d shove the phone in my hand to do the same.

“This is after she pelt the whole kitchen behind me…”

In the following Letter to the Editor, Garth St Clair, a former soldier turned anti-drug activist and Eye on Dependency host, weighs in on Samantha Ramischand’s public snub to the public health ordinance and her father Odai Ramischand’s subsequent threat to Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh:

Dear Mr Odai Ramischand, you and your daughter Samantha Ramischand owe me an apology.

My dearly departed mother would’ve had an actual heart attack if she passed by the television and saw the minister of health beating me all over because I broke the code of trust that was placed on all of us by the authorities for a few weeks, to protect us from us.

I can see my poor mother now, picking up the rotary phone and dialling the Ministry of Health to try to speak with the minister so she could personally apologise to him. And then she’d shove the phone in my hand to do the same.

This is after she pelt the whole kitchen behind me.

Mr Ramischand, this thing actually started when your daughter jump out she whole self and behave like Karen on Gilligan’s Island, rubbing in my face that she, the skipper and the rest of the crew not stranded, so she doh need we help—and we should mind we damn business.

You all would’ve gotten away with that if she did not put the first episode on Facebook for the world to see. So start wid she fus!

I think you, Mr Ramischand, in my humble opinion, blew a golden opportunity to become father of the year. You had the opportunity to sit your daughter down for Episode 2 of ‘Not stranded’ on Facebook, and ask her to apologise to the doctors, police officers, the prime minister, the chief medical officer and the minister of health for breaking life-saving rules and measures that we were begged to follow for our own safety.

After which, you would’ve ended the episode by warning all young people to listen and follow all instructions. It’s for our own good, and it’s just for a little while.

Instead, you now jump out your whole self, almost give me a stroke trying to read your rant—blaming everyone else but your little ‘Karen’ for this whole brouhaha. And then, as a good role model for your grand children, yuh buss ah cuss on the minister.

This is why teachers have it so hard these days, because some parents are doing exactly what you are doing right now.

This is not a good look, Mr Ramischand. People like me, who trying to assist in fixing the youth crime and delinquency problems out here, are finding it difficult to penetrate the minds of some youths because of the bad examples set by parents like you.

I, in your position, would put both my tails between my sea legs—and same for ‘Karen’—and turn this sorry negative into a positive. Let’s show the youth that we must have respect for those in authority, and when you’re wrong, accept it and apologise.

I am sure the minister, or anyone else for that matter, doesn’t want a fight with you and your precious little miss. Be a leader and not a toddler.

Yours truly,

A brother trying to make a difference.

Respect??

Editor’s Note: Click HERE to read attorney-at-law Odai NS Ramischand’s 2,218 word response.

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