Lessons Learned from our Golden Relay Team

Our golden young men - Jarrin Solomon, Jereem Richards, Machel Cedenio, Lalonde Gordon and Renny Quow - are indeed deserving of every accolade bestowed on them for their excellent performance. As strains of the T&T national anthem filled the London stadium during the medal ceremony, our collective hearts were bursting with unfettered pride.

Far too often, many of us tend to question our people’s ability to reach the pinnacle of success within our respective spheres of influence. As such, the chances of coming out ahead of our formidable and well-resourced counterparts from first world countries at times appears quite slim. Clearly in this instance, teamwork tipped the scale and our athletes rose to the challenge, convincingly securing victory in the process.

As we stand on the cusp of our 55th anniversary of Independence, perhaps, there is a lesson here for all of us who call this twin-island Republic, home. What did it take for our team to win? Without a doubt, those youth must have endured many long hours of intense training, discipline, deferred gratication and sacrifice, failure, the willingness to start all over again, teamwork, trust and, above all, a deep belief in self. These are all attributes and practices which can be applied to many areas of our national life, particularly as we seem to be grappling with a great deal of negativity in our society today.

These young men worked together to achieve a common goal. One can only imagine the difference it would make, if we adopted this kind of mindset on the road to building a more productive nation.

Using the example set by our Golden Team, consider what it would be like if our national stakeholders chose a more unifying approach to resolving critical issues, rather than opting for confrontation. Think of what might be accomplished if both the Government and the Opposition were to work together collaboratively, in the areas that matter the most – from national security, to education, health and equity between the islands.

From ti me to ti me we might hear the term “consultation” being bandied about and very often it creates a false sense of progress. In the end, what truly matters is a commitment to working together and then following through on execution and implementation, in all sectors of national endeavour.

During the month of August, we typically reflecton our nationhood in the build up to Independence Day celebrations. This is a period imbued with a great deal of patriotic pride. What better ti me to celebrate our winning relay team, which has epitomised the true spirit of Trinidad and Tobago and captured our hearts so warmly? These young men have created a unifying force – the likes of which have not been seen in some ti me. We have a great opportunity to put aside our differences, celebrate who we are, uniquely, as Trinbagonians and commit decisively to forward motion.

The T&T Chamber sends warm congratulations and best wishes to our World Championships 2017 Men’s 4 x 400 Gold Medallists!