My favorite habit during the period of the last week in the year to the first week in the New Year, is to provide my friends and acquaintances with a genuine wish for peace, good health and a productive approach to your annual dreams.
Recognizing life from day to day where the levels of success and failure tend to enter the lives of many, some without the strength or ability to achieve, while others are satisfied to just join the regular struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis.
I have always maintained that life for persons my age could hardly understand the mindset of the young ones in this modern era where the nation is possibly susceptible to more ideas which can derail the human mind from remaining on the plotted course to the ambitious ones.
The daily media usually thrive upon the happenings of the future, somewhat similar to how the lady with the crystal ball gathers her information.
It was always some kind of joy or positive expectation for me when I was growing up, if only because our options were few, especially those of my one track mind towards sport from a very early age.
By comparison with the youth today, despite their exposure of the attractions of modern day movie, electronics, and the affluent families which take the adventurers into exciting, but high risk activity
Having said that, I wish to begin the New Year by adding my congratulations to the award winners of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) awards which recognizes sports personalities of the year with the hope that this honour will drive them onto better performances in the New Year.
The amazing thing about success is the great reminder of the victorious moments, the joy which enters the hearts of the victors and most importantly, the renewed vigor which must be produced in order to stay on the headlines of the media.
The old folk always reminded us that the athlete is as good as his/her last performance, and the reward of being successful comes from the consistency in being victorious to the point that the man on the street is always ready to pay respect to your presence anywhere they meet with you.
If you doubt me, ask people like Hasely Crawford, Brian Lara, Roger Gibbon, Ato Boldon, Dwight Yorke, Keshorn Walcott and many others, whose performance levels remain in the memory for a long time.
In addition, today's athlete is pressured into providing well laid out plans for the future, especially when there are events like the Rio Olympics, The Copa America Cup, the Caribbean Cricket championships and of course, the world T20 tournament.
Of course, there is the request for maximum commitment for the local performers whose exposure may not be recognized by the people who record events which will catch the eye of the public, but will eventually build up into stardom as the days roll by.
To the performers who have been doing their stuff quietly, but enjoying every minute of it, life for them has numerous periods of appreciation, internally or externally, depending on the contribution which they offer to their events.
I am an extreme believer that the saying: "All that starts well, ends well" is relative to satisfaction of the mind, and believe me, there are hundreds of sportsmen and women whose output may not be identifiable by medals or headlines in the media, but the peace of mind which peak fitness brings to the body and a continued desire to carry on.
The scribes are anxiously awaiting comments of performances, some critical, others analytical, but all within the context of bringing significant images to their readers, listeners and viewers.
Of course, we are all aware of the serious challengers which certain sporting organizations are facing, some national in scope and others which have brought the entire Caribbean to their knees, the total opposite when they threw their arms in the air for a beautiful stroke or lightning speed, not to ignore brilliant fielding, sadly returned to a quality which we thought will never have been witnessed at that level again..
However, the resilience of our people and the desire to have the name of our countries called among the successful ones, will keep us hoping for the best and demanding one hundred percent at all times.
And finally, I end by paying compliment to reigning Olympic and World sprint sensation Usain Bolt. Despite the fact that he may get even better. Easily the athlete who has reached a level in his sport which may well have surpassed the likes of Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, and even Lionel Messi.
Genius is demonstrated by a child of the Good Lord and we shall cherish the lanky Jamaican in that light. Happy New Year my people and let us live in peace and love for each other.