Congrats, but no over-indulgence

They have brought great pride and joy to our country. And they should be rewarded, but we should guard against overdoing it, especially in these euphoric moments.

First of all, the call for a holiday is silly. We already have too many holidays in this country; another one is unnecessary. My suggestion is that we offer monetary compensation, taking our cue from the US, a country far richer than ours.

It rewards its gold medallists with US$25,000 and it’s taxable. We can be more generous and make ours tax-free.

It is also okay to honour them symbolically, with a street or building named after them, preferably in the community in which they grew up.

Especially in these lean times, we must stop the over-indulgence and unrealistic expectations (symptomatic of our gimmegimme mentality) when our athletes win a medal. Now is a good time to start.

A CHARLES Mount Hope