Golden values of our heroes

IT was a few days of exciting welcomes, historical celebrations and justified rewards. But while the celebratory rituals continue for javelin gold-medallist Keshorn Walcott, 400m silver medallist Jereem Richards and the fifth-time CPL winner, Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR), they must not cloud the golden values which propelled these conquerors.

Your values help determine how you behave. They are the psychological energisers, the fuel, the spirit, which keep you civil, which push you to overcome obstacles and which can make you an exceptional person.

For 32-year-old Walcott, it was “trying, trying, trying,” not giving up since at 19 he won the Olympic gold medal in 2012. He was determined to win gold again in 2025, 13 years after, this time at the World Athletics Championship in Tokyo, where he faced the world’s best.

Never giving up in the face of threatening obstacles is key for many successful people. Ask the successful politician or businessman. Winners of the presidential medals and top SEA scholars add “hard work and prayers” to their treasure of values. They don’t just depend on prayers, they conquer obstacles and study hard.

And that’s my main message for our youth today – listen to the golden values held by our returning heroes and very successful people, set your goal and never, never give up, no matter how hard it looks.

Walcott’s story before 2025 should be shared in all schools. Having thrown the javelin at 88.16m, the Toco-born champion athlete admitted at the homecoming celebrations: “It’s been a long, long journey of trying, trying, trying” – and this for 13 long years. He sat next to PM Persad-Bissessar, who well knows about “trying, trying, trying.”

Walcott said: “It was worth all the sweat, tears, hard work and sacrifice.” These comprise the package of empowering values which all young people should digest and practise. Call them “Walcott’s Way.”

This reminds me of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s lines: “The heights by great men reached and kept/Were not attained by sudden flight/But they, while their companions slept/Were toiling upward in the night.”

We tell children a lot about “persistence” and “determination.” But here they are, alive and inspiring.

Walcott added: “For 13 years, I told myself I deserve this medal, that it belongs with the rest of the medals I have, but I had to wait, I had to be patient.”

That’s another important value – patience. Patiently focus on your goal, sacrificing some pleasures, improving step by step with faith in yourself. Success will come.

I am reminded of last year’s St Lucian Olympic gold winner – 24-year-old Julien Alfred. It was the first gold medal for the little Caribbean state of 180,000 people. She won the 100m race, beating the world’s best. With rain and tears running down her face, she said afterwards: “It was because of my faith, hard work and God.”

Those were her values too – hard work and faith in God, a combination which can lead to little axes cutting down big trees. This is what Walcott and Richards did for TT.

The 400m silver-medal champion in Tokyo, 31-year-old Richards, a dedicated athlete, also used the values of “hard work and “not giving up” since winning bronze (200m) in the 2017 Rio games. He, too, tried and tried.

“I kept faith,” he admitted.

He continued: “I would say glory to God, because I have been praying a lot.” It worked. He thankfully added: “I don’t even feel like this medal is mine. I feel like it’s God’s.”

Such prayers and faith kept both Keshorn and Jereem gratefully humble. They don’t rest on their laurels.

Captain Nicholas Pooran has his own story about trying and trying to overcome obstacles. He recalled at the welcome celebrations: “I went through adversity where I almost lost my life. I felt like I wasn’t going to to play cricket again.”

He added: “I almost lost my legs. Doctors said I may not walk or run again.” He, too, struggled against adversity to walk and run again and become captain of a victorious cricket team in 2025.

His team were mocked for being “seniors.” Kieron Pollard was booed. But they carried on. In staging the lively celebrations, PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar gleefully said she knows only too well about the age factor.

Then as TKR coach, Dwayne Bravo thanked her, he said “when everybody wins.” The crowd burst out laughing with some jokingly completing the political slogan “when UNC wins, everybody wins.” The PM smiled