In the grand scheme of things in Trinidad and Tobago, I am considered a nobody because I am not wealthy, my name does not invoke fear and/or respect and I have never held a political position, so I do not expect you to know who I am; however, after today, I hope you remember me and this message.

I have been considering writing you this letter for some time because quite honestly sir, I am sorely disappointed in your performance as Prime Minister. Leading up to the 2015 general elections, I wrote several scathing articles criticising former governments under the two major parties because from my vantage point, it seemed, and now still seems to be that your PNM and the UNC are taking turns to destroy our people.

In fact, I saw staining my finger for either of the two major parties as choosing a seat on the Titanic: it was either a vote for continued rampant corruption, or a vote for a party that always seems to be more loyal to financiers.

Either way, our citizens lose.

Nevertheless, elections came and went and your party won and for a few days, I felt hopeful; my article on Sunday, 13th September, entitled The Audacity of Hope, is testament to that. I assumed that as you are in your sixties and having finally achieved your highest political accomplishment, you would have done what was necessary to fix Trinidad and Tobago without fear or favour, but I was profoundly mistaken.

From the very beginning, you surrounded yourself with incompetence by making several questionable ministerial appointments. How sir, do you select a Minister of Communication whose communication skills are poor at best.

How sir, do you select a Minister of National Security who has little theoretical knowledge or practical experience in national security and criminal justice. Let’s face it, this is not the American armed forces where persons earn their stripes and promotions by dodging bullets in Iraq and Syria; in Trinidad and Tobago, military status is obtained through nothing more than the number of marijuana field-burnings in which they were involved.

And how sir, do you select another ex-trade union leader with archaic views to lead the Ministry of Labour in the 21st century at a time where it needs to be updated to protect workers (especially your civil servants) from being exploited with fixedterm contracts.

Whilst I knew that you did not have the right ideas to eradicate corruption, reduce crime and buoy the economy, many people believed your pre-election ideas and promises. Not surprisingly to me, you have failed them on all points, and quite frankly, it is because you have refused to unfetter yourself from the shackles of political financing in order to investigate and unmask the “big fish”.

On the issue of crime, I have listened to you speak, and you seem to believe that this responsibility lies with the protective services and the population, which is true, because police officers will not be able to solve crimes if they do not receive public assistance.

Accurate in theory, but you seem to forget that the police service is corrupted to its core, so without public trust in the TT PS, how can there be progress in that regard? Don’t blame the population for not helping the police because for us, it is about staying alive.

As PM and head of the National Security Council, you are ultimately responsible for the state of crime in our country regardless of how hard you try to transfer it to others. And now because you lack the political will to effectuate the change needed to fix a morally deficient police service, the failure of Trinbago will remain a stain on your otherwise decent political career.

If you do not start implementing strategies to turn this country around, you will ride off into the sunset as the man who oversaw a bloodbath and the most abysmal period of job haemorrhaging, thereby making you the worst PM this country has ever seen, and that, I hope, is not what you want your legacy to be.

Right now we need a bold leader; a man willing to do whatever it takes to restore the sanctity of our land and the sanity of our people, in line with the attempts of your Tobagonian predecessor, ANR Robinson. Your success as PM is our success as a country and no patriot wants you to fail; in fact, we need you to succeed.

So with all due respect sir, it is time for you and your administration to shape up or ship out. Best Wi s h e s , Dr J.

St Fort was the overwhelming favourite in last evening’s final, and she did not disappoint, as she crossed the finish line in 11.56 seconds.

Jamaica’s Aneka Brissett was next in 11.57 seconds while Halle Hazzard of Grenada placed third in 11.67. Kasheika Cameron of Jamaica was fourth in 11.74, with Soleyn Bliss of Antigua (11.75), Tristan Evelyn of Barbados (11.91), Shanice Elliott of St Kitts/Nevis (11.99) and L’T’Sha Fahie of the British Virgin Islands (12.01) trailing.

Another TT gold medallist yesterday was Adell Colthrust, in the boys Under-18 100 metres.

Colthrust accelerated in the last 20 metres to claim gold in 10.63 seconds, with Adrian Curry of the Bahamas (10.64) and Tyreke Wilson of Jamaica (10.69) getting silver and bronze respectively.

The other entrants in the final were Barbados’ Matthew Clarke (10.76), TT’s Avindale Smith (10.77), Bahamas’ Joel Johnson (10.78), Guadeloupe’s Julien Majeur (10.86) and Barbados’ Darian Clarke (11.04).

Yesterday morning, Ianna Roach was the first TT medallist, as she took home gold in the girls Under- 18 shot put.

Roach, with her fifth throw, registered a distance of 14.43 metres to triumph ahead of Jamaica’s Danielle Sloley (14.12m) and Martinique’s Tamera Manette (13.86m).

Errika Roussas of Guadeloupe was a distant fourth in 13.66m, with Jamaica’s Shaday Hudson (13.31m), Chloe Palmis of Martinique (13.20m), Acacia Astwood of the Bahamas (12.54m) and Treneese Hamilton of Dominica (11.47m) rounding off the top eight.

Trinidad and Tobago also collected three bronze medals (and fifth-placed finishes in the respective events) yesterday. In the boys Under-20 discus, Konnel Jacob was third in 57.28m, following the Jamaican duo of Roje Stona (66.41m) and Kevin Nedrick (60.38m), while Clarence Hannibal was fifth in 47.85m.Jaydon Antoine was the bronze medallist in the boys Under- 18 long jump, with a leap of 6.97m.

Bahamas’ Denvaughn Whymns was victorious with a best of 7.31m, with Sheldon Noble of Antigua next in 7.03m. Aaron Cruickshank of TT was fifth in 6.73m.

And, in the boys Under-20 400m, Joshua St Clair was third in 47.02, behind Christopher Taylor of Jamaica (45.97) and Jamal Walton of the Cayman Islands (46.46), while Kashief King was fifth in 47.82.

The Games will continue today and will conclude tomorrow.

It is also reflected in the recent Minimalist Movement (not to be confused with the art movement) into which one can dump the Tiny Homes revolution, and the vegan revolution, all of which are not only about healthy and simpler lifestyles but also about the ecological benefits of such lifestyles.

And then there are the ultra runners.

What better time to join this running community that in an age where we have forgotten how little we really need for a healthy and comfortable life? About five years ago, browsing through the bookstores here, I happened upon a book, perhaps at R.I.K.

It was called Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Had Ever Seen by Christopher McDougall.

In search of the reason behind his constant running injuries, the author embarks on a journey to the mountains of Copper Canyon, Mexico, in search of the Tarahumara, a tribe for whom running is a natural way of life. Also called the Rar?muri or the running people, as one source translates it, their longest run is recorded at a non-stop 700 km in 48 hours.

This angle on the Tarahumara is a story of living and running with the energy of nature. As McDougall explains: “The real secret of the Tarahumara (was): they’d never forgotten what it felt like to love running… Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees, we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain…Distance running was revered because it was indispensable; it was the way we survived and thrived and spread across the planet.

You ran to eat and to avoid being eaten;…You had to love running, or you wouldn’t live to love anything else…We were born to run; we were born because we run. We’re all Running People…”.

Following Born to Run is McDougall’s second book Natural Born Heroes: How a Daring Band of Misfits Mastered the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance. Set in Crete, it explores, along with another take on running mechanics, the ideal of Greek heroism. For the Greeks, the hero is not necessarily the strongest man but the cleverest and most agile (think Odysseus or Hercules who had to rely on wits and physical endurance to triumph).

Set against the backdrop of World War II this is an engaging as well as humorous tale about a band of misfits – British intellectuals hardly likely to engage in active war – employed by Winston Churchill to create havoc for Hitler’s army based on the island of Crete. Trained by Cretan runners, these misfits eventually kidnap a German general and lead a resistance against the Nazis with local resistance fighters.

The book focuses on the question of how the feat was actually made possible in mountainous terrain like Crete’s, shedding light on the Greek focus on fascial conditioning.

Fitness is seen in Greek culture, as a means of being useful to others. If Born to Run inspired those who read it to throw out their expensive running shoes and opt instead for bare feet and a run through a forest to breathe in the trees and birds around, then Natural Born Heroes is going to entice readers to abandon gyms and begin seeing fitness possibilities in the man-made and natural environment, leading them to maybe run, jump and climb trees.

At the core of the books, are two key points – economy and focus.

These extreme runners remind us that life is movement, but movement entails focus on the course, mental and physical conditioning and an attitude of perseverance.

It’s an ultra marathon of highs, lows and periods when you wish you could give up and periods when you push through despite the fact that your body and mind are collapsing.

In a material world where mental and psychosomatic illnesses are widespread, as Scott Jurek, one of the world’s top ultra marathoners says, it’s about “finding a strength that goes beyond the body and the mind.

That’s when the magic happens.” (Kilian’s Quest, Season 04 Ep.

06,youtube.com). For films on ultra marathoners, check out Billy Yang’s 15 Hours and Life in A Day series, and Salomon R u n n i n g on youtube.

com.

They are bound to engage those who run for the sheer love of it.

Until recently it was a needy person who reached out to friends – reached out for help, that is. Now it is being used by people who don’t need much help at all, but want to benefit from the expression’s air of vulnerability and to seem worthy of some sympathy and assistance.

When a politician, for instance, talks about “reaching out”, he or she is reaching out for nothing more or less than your vote, your rubber- stamp, your approval. He is attempting to shrug off the public’s potential contempt for his kind. He’s saying it is tough out there and even if he might come across as slimy, manipulative and underhand, he is just Mrs Whatever’s little boy doing his best in a dog-eat-dog world.

And it’s not just politicians.

I recently sent an email to the “editor” of one of those things that look like magazines but are really just vehicles for selling advertising.

I was offering my services as a writer – and she replied, which is something of a result in this day and age.

She thanked me for “reaching out”.

And yes, she would be more than happy to print anything I wrote. But she wouldn’t be doing it on the traditional basis, the one that involves payment. She would be prepared to grant me the privilege of having my work make her publication look like the real thing, rather than a catalogue.

But being a salesperson rather than a journalist herself, she thought nothing of offering me nothing in exchange.

After all, writing is fun, and I had reached out to her, which in this context now makes sending a speculative email seem like a beggar reaching out with a polystyrene cup.

When you get a flier through your letterbox, advertising the services of a plumber, is he “reaching out” to you? No, he’s simply telling you he’s there if you need his services. And you can bet your mortgaged life he expects to be paid if he does do something for you.

To describe this as “reaching out” is simply a way of changing the tone of the transaction, in an attempt by the recipient to keep her money in her pocket.

On the other hand, some people are very impressionable when it comes to new usages. They will leap on words and expressions without thinking them through. And that’s not a sign of lack of intelligence, just laziness.

Then there are those who use new expressions to persuade us that they are modern, forward-thinking people, on the ball and part of the crowd.

“See? I’m one of you.” British politicians are currently on a mission to use the expression: “it’s a game-changer” in every speech they give, because it makes them sound sporty, alert and “innovative”, to use a vastly overworked word.

Politicians in TT are fond of telling us they are going to “treat with” something, perhaps because it sounds more serious than “we’re having a look at it” or “I’m going to talk about it but that’s all”. It may be simply a quirk of Trini English, but it comes across as a kind of shield to hide behind when nothing is really being done.

A despicable recent predecessor of “reaching out” in terms of deceitful use is the word “intern”, meaning an unpaid employee. This was a by-product of the old conundrum whereby you don’t get a certain job because you have no experience, and you can’t gain experience because no one will give you a job. The traditional ways of dealing with this problem were either apprenticeships, in which you earned a little and learned on the job until you had reached an officially approved level of expertise, or you simply started at the bottom, again on a low wage. But at least it was a wage.

Whoever came up with the modern idea of the completely unpaid intern must have been either blindly arrogant or downright callous. They only got away with it by giving it a name borrowed from the world of hospitals, where an intern is a recently qualified doctor who assists experienced practitioners in order to gain experience before being let loose on the public.

This sort of manipulation of meaning is becoming more and more common, and another example is the verb to “redact”.

This means editing, and editing is perilously close to censoring, so no one likes to have their words edited if it means having the meaning interfered with. Whoever came up with the idea simply picked a relatively unknown word and relied on the fact that most people didn’t really understand what it meant but couldn’t be bothered to find out.

So the lesson is: don’t let any new word pass unchallenged: it might be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

At the start of this Holy Week, the horror of the explosions that maimed and killed our Coptic Christian brothers and sisters in Egypt brought us face to face with the evil that would seek to dominate our world.

In our own country, families are torn apart by marital strife that pierces the hearts and minds of parents, children and the wider family circle. Communities cry out for relief from daily violence while as a nation we hold our heads and mourn for our youth who choose the wicked way for want of examples that would lead them to a vision of hope and of life.

We take solace and strength from Christ Himself who, in His human state, suffered the anguish of knowing what He had to face, not for His sake but for ours. He, too cried out to the Father. He asked to be spared the agony which He alone had to endure. Like Him, we find ourselves asking, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In our attempt to control our lives and be masters of our fate, we forget that, like Jesus, we must put our supreme trust in the Almighty.

This is the only way we can rise from the tombs of fear, pain and despair that can keep us buried without hope of rising to new life.

In the darkness of the tombs, we forget – or are afraid to trust — that God loves us; that He wants us to have life and life in abundance.

The world would have us believe that this is just wishful thinking, an attempt to escape the realities of life. Yes, He has risen from the dead and has promised that He will be with us to the end of the world! In today’s Gospel, we read that the disciples had “failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead” (Jn 20:9).

Their failure to understand and consequently to believe, finds echoes in our own experience.

They, who had walked and talked and lived with the Lord, ran away with fear when He was captured. They despaired that their leader had left them alone, that they would never see Him again.

Even after His resurrection, they still lacked the confidence that His Holy Spirit would fill them with the power they needed to continue His work on earth.

When at Pentecost they were indeed filled with His Spirit, the resurrection we celebrate today dominated and guided their lives, as it must dominate ours.

The resurrection renews our Christian faith that defies human ‘wisdom’. It celebrates our God— all-powerful, all-wise and all-loving.

Our young people live in an era where technology overrides courtesy and good manners.

Children follow what they see in their homes and when parents do not adhere to decent standards the children usually inherit improper conduct.

Violence has always been in primary, secondary and higher education schools since the 60s. Many principals and teachers would usually sweep disorder by unruly students under the carpet and be sworn to secrecy.

But as the years passed by the violence escalated and the absence of corporal punishment has made many good parents and teachers sad. Imagine children are becoming braver, delinquent and even smarter than some teachers or parents.

The frustration of being exposed to numerous ideologies have confused their minds.

How can you tell a Trini child to stop speaking “Yankee?” Children watch the foreign shows on TV constantly and are fascinated by the style of clothing, speech, and actions.

So they no longer care to be true TT sons or daughters of the soil.

Some would say they are sons of the world, thanks to globalisation, Facebook, Twitter and social media. But a transformation can come when we begin to truly love our own culture and lifestyle.

Never be ashamed of who we are. We are unique and priceless and the tourists surely would like to see that.

Politics is part of everyone’s life and we run wild and carefree not realising the real truth of decisions. In other words, we quarrel when a leader we damn disappears from the spotlight.

So with the Ministry of Education’s positive and humanistic strategies to reform the “bad apples” in our schools, no matter who preaches great news, there is someone out there to bring it down.

The minister is on the right path with the reintroduction of curriculum enhancement.

The following should also be looked at: * Introduction of subjects such as manners and courtesy.

* Increase in participation of parents and all PTAs in meetings and school-related activities.

* Adherence to a strict diet for all students. They are consuming too much junk.

Schoolchildren have the wrong concept of sex. They believe that once they experience it, they have to do it all the time. God will always forgive any type of illicit activity or sin. But schoolgirls who become pregnant delay their progress in the school years.

Everybody in this land needs some type of counselling.

We face stress daily, and we all know that teenage pregnancy is part of the cycle of abuse, confusion and immaturity.

The active programme of health and family life education must continue to teach students to control sexual urges. Some children are now given the opportunity to experience the various stages of childhood.

Life is surely much more than material things. All students must believe there is a God who loves us all. And parents must endure the pains of the Education Ministry which is working religiously to set appropriate and sensible infrastructures.

GREGORY J NEPTUNE Port-of-Spain

Take a bow TT.

PHILLIP ALEXANDER via email

TT leaders do not seem to have any common sense, because their behaviour is insulting to investors. One would think we were turning away investments and job opportunities daily, because our workforce is sufficiently employed.

TT is so small compared to other gas/oil-producing countries, whose people are not as rude and are more welcoming.

We have no other industries to fall back on, in spite of the economists warning us even before the 1980s.

We have not diversified our economy. How many “wakeup calls” do we need? PATRICIA BLADES via email NEWS DAY welcomes letters from our readers and we invite you to write us on any subject. We ask, however, that letters be kept short and to the point and that your name and address be included. In order to ensure credibility, we do not publish letters without names.

This of course is only wishful thinking. It’s not going to happen because if you put a union leader to run a small parlour it would be a disaster.

Ask anybody in Trinidad about how most people work and they will say workers are lazy and unproductive. This may be true because of the union’s attitude towards work and productivity.

This was a good opportunity for the people of La Brea to prove the critics wrong, those who always say Trinidadians are lazy and don’t like to work. Most people would say how they want the highest pay for doing little.

If by chasing bpTT away from our shores we gained a victory, why are we not celebrating in the streets with food and drinks sponsored by the union leader? I would like to hear from the wives and families of the workers who would have benefitted if the platform was being built here.

The people who were hoping to work on the bpTT platform should be given a loan from the union leader’s pockets because of his failure at good representation.

MOHAMMED HOSEIN Princes TownLetters should be sent to letters@newsday

Through the now defunct Tennis Coaches Association,. a recommendation was made (32 years ago) to the Tennis Association to build a tennis centre and hire two previous national champions in Larry Yearwood and Orville Adams as coaches. Will my Minister of Sports please explain how what started as the National Tennis Centre is now shared with badminton, table tennis and any other racquet sport that dares to apply for squatting rights? Recently, our new tenant, hockey, caused a shutdown of the facility.

Yea man, no tennis but the players’ lounge provided accommodation for hockey players and was decorated with the daily laundry of the temporary occupants. This was compounded with the practice sessions on the courts, not tennis of course. Are they hockey or tennis courts? Ridiculous.

Tennis players were taken aback with the gross abuse of their new facility. The genuine users were further debarred from enjoying their new home when the hockey tournament started. Can the minister justify the recent activities? Can an arrangement be put in place to prevent the activities of one discipline adversely affecting another? And furthermore, is hockey going to share the revenue because of the inconvenience? To the concerned onlooker there appears to be no clear-cut policy for the use of the centre. What is the status of each of the disciplines with regard to management, usage to earn income and the scheduling of training sessions? Or should each body prepare a strategic plan to justify its occupancy? Even a simple schedule of usage can be submitted to the authorities to get their blessings.

Be reminded that good, bad and indifferent proposals to the ministry were met with the same inert response by the authorities.

Any proposal to decentralise the management of sports, reduce heavy dependence on the State coffers and create a sense of independence for the different disciplines should be encouraged. The alternative to this is to continue the traditional way of producing white elephants managed by green donkeys, resulting in high maintenance costs, lack of usage and very little revenue streaming in.

Is this new facility going to follow the same fate as the Jean Pierre Complex? To avoid maintenance costs exceeding revenue it was turned into an entertainment centre because sports could not foot the bill. Jean must be turning in her grave to see what was built in her honour now used to disgrace her name. Other sport facilities that bear similar testimony are the Mannie Ramjohn, Ato Boldon, Larry Gomes and Dwight York Stadiums.

To follow are the Brian Lara Stadium, the Cycling Velodrome and the Aquatic Centre, if history is allowed to repeat itself.

In these times when sport is big business, can we afford the wanton wastage? The scourge of missing the opportunity of earning higher wages, depriving the citizenry of employment, denying the population of an excuse to be healthy, condoning the drop in productivity through the increase in reported sick days, and preventing individuals from satisfying their physical, social, emotional and psychological needs must not continue to plague us. Hire our sports management and facilities management graduates, not watchmen and turnkeys, to handle these sports investments professionally.

Time to reset the sports button, Mr Minister.

LENNOX FRANCIS Couva.co.tt