We are witnessing in our times the passing of several outstanding contributors to national life and we do so on occasions with extended celebrations and are not short in our praise for the individuals.
However, the question remains: are those recognitions and instant celebrations enough? We believe the answer is decidedly not since, in a wink, we turn our attention away from the expressions of joy and sorrow to the daily aggravations of living.
That ingrained pattern is assurance that we never truly capture the real value of how lives blossomed to enhance our quality of life. Logically, therefore, we are unable to put into practice the lessons which should have been learnt by the young and old from our finest citizens.
We have to seek out and find what made achievers pursue meaningful accomplishments in their lives? What methods were used to break barriers? Why and how did our Amerindian forefathers resist colonisation of their minds by the marauding Spaniards? How and why did Uriah “Buzz” Butler, Elma Francois, Captain Cipriani, originating from dramatically different circumstances, emerge with the strength and bravery to take on the establishment of the period. How did pioneering businessmen and women such as Sydney Knox, Ken Gordon, Anthony N. Sabga, Joseph Charles, Motilal Moonan, Hannah Janoura, Helen Bhagwansingh succeed? Instead of studying the scientific mind and entrepreneurship of Prof Ken Julien, we engage in bad-minded wars against him.
What drove Fr Jerry Pantin to achieve his life’s work in Laventille, when “Black Power” was seemingly targeted against the “privileged” as himself? What so possessed and sustained steelpan creators Winston “Spree” Simon, Ellie Mannette, Anthony Williams and Neville Jules to persist notwithstanding the weight of social society pressed against them?
What have been the driving forces behind the successes and life of Black Stalin which brought out this creative genius in him? Outside of the love-hate relationship we had with VS Naipaul, what have we learnt from his literary genius? What of CLR James, Beryl McBurnie, Derek Walcott and Samuel Selvon, what can meaningful studies of their lives teach us? How did thousands of single mothers give education and values to their children?
As international athletes, Rodney Wilkes, Wendell Mottley, Hasely Crawford, Jean Pierre, and Brian Lara, what can they pass on to another generation from their accomplishments against the world’s best?
Our teaching fraternity has produced humans with real understanding and compassion for their students. We have to appreciate what drove the village headmaster to stand in the breach for that young one who was going in the wrong direction, especially in instances when parents weren’t able or willing to inculcate lessons and character.
The T&T Guardian is here proposing we go beyond instant praise and awards and seek to institutionalise the life works of those who have contributed to our advancement as a people. Not simply to establish museums to collate, display and honour the work of individuals; but to create life-teaching institutions to distil and display learning experiences to the present generation and those to come; why and how our standout individuals succeeded? That work must start in the present.