Anger is easy; grace takes work. Getting angry at the futility of it all wouldn’t solve the problem.
Anger is easy; grace takes work. We all need to develop and deploy more grace and less anger, especially considering the numerous challenges.
A recent headline in one of the daily newspapers gave me the sense that, instead of the usual staid look back at the year 2025, I should highlight an example of grace over anger.
For many years, I have advocated for “replacing guns with medals” and “sport for peace” programmes. Yet, in the hustle and bustle of financial and economic realities, those types of programmes can easily be considered not as important. Maybe because the work and the outcomes aren’t always “camera-friendly”. The power of sport to positively impact at-risk youth needs no championing; it is well-documented internationally.
Today’s “Things That Matter” is the final column for the year. Might I add that, amidst all the doom, gloom, and turmoil, there have been highs to celebrate. Last evening’s 31st T&T Olympic Committee (TTOC) annual awards celebrated those high points, and the occasion will no doubt receive appropriate coverage.
However, in all the celebration, there is a harsh truth and reality. The feel-good moments are often immediately washed away, leaving an undercurrent of frustration and dismay. The smiles and temporary joy cannot hide the reality of tough and hard times that must be endured in the coming year. 2026 will require, more than ever before, a “warrior mindset”.
Reminder: anger is easy; grace takes work. The warrior mindset will need grace, not anger, to overcome the tough times. Let there be no doubt that tough times will be overcome. Tough times don’t last.
The headline previously mentioned that served as the impetus for this final column for 2025 read: “We keep creating more killers.” The actual article seemed to be a letter written by Denisha Mayers-Gardner, the sister of PC Dale Mayers, an off-duty policeman who was killed during a botched robbery in May 2024.
Ishmael “Smokey” Clarke, 23, also known as Meshack Marcus, an unemployed man of Nelson Street, Port of Spain, was charged and sentenced for the murder.
Mayers-Gardner wrote:
“For decades, Trinidad and Tobago has struggled with concentrated, predictable patterns of violent crime. The data is not new and not mysterious:
• Most perpetrators are young men from economically depressed urban areas, especially in and around Port-of-Spain.
• Many grow up in communities plagued by unemployment, poor schooling, and gang influence.
• Crime is heavily tied to generational poverty, limited opportunity, and the absence of meaningful intervention.
These outcomes did not appear overnight. They are the long-term result of successive political decisions, policy failures, and a national reluctance to confront uncomfortable truths. Today, I am grieving. I will grieve for a long time. My brother was a good man who served his country — and he was taken by someone who never had the chance to become one.
But as the anger settles, something else is emerging: I feel sorrow—not just for my family, but for Ishmael’s. Because the statistics that shaped his life were working against him long before he ever encountered my brother. And until we face this as a country, until we address the root causes with honesty and courage, we will keep creating more Ishmaels — and we will keep burying more Dales. My brother deserved better. But so do the young men we keep losing long before they become killers.”
Powerful and profound words.
I end 2025 by simply urging all who choose to listen: consider that sport, given its capacity to make a significant positive difference, is not an expenditure item to be erased. It is an investment to be made a priority.
Remember, anger is easy; grace takes work.
