Bri­an Lewis

Just about one month ago I em­barked up­on and suc­cess­ful­ly com­plet­ed the 26.2 mile jour­ney that con­sti­tut­ed the Trinidad and To­ba­go In­ter­na­tion­al Marathon from Freeport to Port of Spain.

The marathon walk had no oth­er mo­tive than to raise aware­ness, at­ten­tion and fund­ing for the 10 or more Olympic Gold medals by the year 2024 ath­lete wel­fare and prepa­ra­tion.

I ac­cept that there are in­di­vid­u­als in­side and out­side sport who don't share the view that the con­cern I am try­ing to high­light has mer­it or sub­stance. For rea­sons best known to them­selves they refuse to ac­knowl­edge, ad­mit or ac­cept that there is need to pro­vide more mean­ing­ful fi­nan­cial sup­port to the young tal­ent­ed and ded­i­cat­ed sons and daugh­ters of our soil.

The marathon walk en­joyed its mo­ment in the sun but like every­thing else the ma­jor risk is that the ob­jec­tives and goals will be sub­sumed by the nine day won­der syn­drome.

It's a syn­drome that saps the spir­it as well-in­ten­tioned ef­forts be­come an ex­er­cise in fu­til­i­ty–quick­ly sink­ing in­to an ocean of in­sin­cer­i­ty and hypocrisy end­ing up on the sea bed of frus­tra­tion, mean­ing­less­ness and cyn­i­cism.

If I have to walk a marathon every sin­gle day I will how­ev­er re­main ded­i­cat­ed to the cause of our tal­ent­ed sons and daugh­ters who as­pire to be­come Olympic cham­pi­ons.

This is a time for choos­ing if we want to be a part of cre­at­ing a great so­ci­ety.

As we go about our dai­ly lives there is a need for us to give a full day's work for a day's pay.

It ap­plies not on­ly to those earn­ing a salary in the pri­vate and pub­lic sec­tor. It doesn't mat­ter if you are a vol­un­teer sport ad­min­is­tra­tor, an ath­lete or a coach. Its more than just a mon­e­tary val­ue – it's about the ef­fort you give and the pur­pose with which you live your life.

When we give a full day's work for a day's pay we re­main eter­nal­ly vig­i­lant and pay for­ward to the next gen­er­a­tion and the gen­er­a­tion to come. We see our­selves as cus­to­di­ans and stew­ards of the to­tal­i­ty of the space called La Trin­i­ty–Trinidad and To­ba­go.

When we give a full day's work for a full day's work for a day's pay we ho­n­our the no­tion of na­tion­al pride and civic du­ty that builds a na­tion.

Great lead­ers such as Je­sus Christ, Mar­tin Luther King Jr, Nel­son Man­dela, Ma­hat­ma Gand­hi have shown that a na­tion is first found­ed on the sto­ries that it tells – and si­lences – to jus­ti­fy its ex­is­tence.

Their mes­sages and ex­am­ple have taught or­gan­i­sa­tion and the im­por­tance of at­tack­ing the is­sues of the day and era. They didn't talk around is­sues; they at­tacked them head on in the bat­tle­ground of so­cial aware­ness.

Those of us born and bred in the space called T&T car­ry in our bo­soms a du­ty to not al­low our se­cret frus­tra­tions to keep us from be­ing a cham­pi­on of hope to the young peo­ple of this na­tion. You can't think neg­a­tive thoughts and live a pos­i­tive life. We can all do some­thing of sig­nif­i­cance and life a live of pur­pose. The grass isn't green­er some­where else. We have to say to the youth and young peo­ple of this na­tion don't quit on your­self, your job, your life, your dream or your coun­try. Don't throw in the tow­el and walk away. Don't just go through the mo­tions.

Bri­an Lewis is the Pres­i­dent of the T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee. The views ex­pressed are not nec­es­sar­i­ly those of the Na­tion­al Olympic Com­mit­tee.

Sup­port #10golds24 Ath­lete wel­fare and prepa­ra­tion fund. Make your do­na­tions to any branch of Sco­tia Bank Acc# 171188