As the cit­i­zens of the twin-is­land Re­pub­lic cel­e­brate on Thurs­day, Di­vali - the Fes­ti­val of Lights which sym­bol­is­es light over dark­ness and good over evil - it serves as a re­minder of the mul­ti­cul­tur­al, mul­ti-eth­nic, mul­ti-racial re­al­i­ty of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Di­vali cel­e­bra­tions for the sec­ond straight year have been COVID-19 im­pact­ed. But in the true spir­it of the tri­umph of light over dark­ness, the lights of Di­vali will not be dimmed as not on­ly the Hin­du com­mu­ni­ty but the en­tire na­tion will join in cel­e­bra­tion and ac­knowl­edge­ment.

Di­vali of­fers an op­por­tu­ni­ty for all of us to re­flect and reach out to each oth­er - Touch base.

Many of our fel­low cit­i­zens are suf­fer­ing in si­lence, men­tal­ly and emo­tion­al­ly. Af­ter 19 months of COVID-19, the fu­ture ap­pears dim and dark. We are called up­on to have hope and see the dawn of day­light.

But for many, it is sim­ply "ole talk". The gloom and dark cloud over Trinidad and To­ba­go can't be ex­plained away as Sa­hara dust, or vol­canic ash from the Ca­nary Is­land or weath­er and cli­mate change con­se­quences.

Nah! It's deep­er than that. It's emo­tion­al, men­tal and spir­i­tu­al. It's as if our val­ue sys­tem has been thrown out of the win­dow. We are los­ing hope be­cause all seems lost. That is the truth of the mat­ter.

It is there­fore im­por­tant to use Di­vali not just in a sym­bol­ic way but as a re­al­i­ty check and re­minder that light al­ways con­quers dark­ness.

Dante Alighieri, once said: "From a lit­tle spark may burst a mighty flame."

Our fu­ture comes one hour at a time. Al­most every­one wants progress, it's the change that is the prob­lem. I read some­where that wise peo­ple some­times change their minds - fools nev­er do.

Every­one wants to change the world but no one wants to change them­selves. Change brings growth. It is a sign of strength to make changes when nec­es­sary. When you stop chang­ing you stop grow­ing. Be strong and coura­geous. The pur­pose of life is a life of pur­pose. Ob­sta­cles re­veal who we re­al­ly are and what we tru­ly be­lieve.

As the Olympic and sport move­ment in Trinidad and To­ba­go join with the rest of the coun­try and the Hin­du com­mu­ni­ty in cel­e­brat­ing Di­vali, the essence of Di­vali rep­re­sents hope and light over dark­ness as we find our way as a coun­try and so­ci­ety out of the long dark night that is COVID-19.

We are re­quired to hold on to the be­lief that the light will over­come dark­ness. Sports or­gan­i­sa­tions and their stake­hold­ers are them­selves feel­ing over­whelmed as COVID-19 has forced change in many as­pects.

Fight­ing the whirl­wind of change and dis­rup­tion will not pro­vide so­lace or so­lu­tions or an­swers. Don't let the ur­gent dis­tract you from what is im­por­tant. The fu­ture fright­ens those of us who pre­fer liv­ing in the past. How it was pre-COVID-19 - what was nor­mal and how it was - is gone. It's the past. Pre COVID-19 has passed for­ev­er and is be­yond our con­trol. It's bet­ter to look where you are go­ing than to see where you have been.

As we en­ter the month of No­vem­ber, the T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC) up­com­ing events are Ju­nior Pan Amer­i­can Games in Cali, Colom­bia, the TTOC An­nu­al Awards, Sports Ad­min­is­tra­tion course, Ath­lete Ca­reer De­vel­op­ment we­bi­nar and the con­tin­u­a­tion of the 75,000 steps vir­tu­al walk/run/jog event.

We are in­to the fi­nal two months of the na­tion­al Olympic com­mit­tee's 75th-year cel­e­bra­tion and ac­knowl­edge­ment. There is much to cel­e­brate, ac­knowl­edge and be thank­ful and grate­ful for. The fu­ture is filled with op­por­tu­ni­ties and growth. Let your light shine.

Be true to your­self, don't try to be who you aren't.

Let Di­vali 2021 be a turn­ing point.