OP-ED The power of one, teamwork, vision and destiny

Dec 21, 2022 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

By GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – The superlatives break into new territory. ‘One for the Ages’ and ‘stunning’ and “we will never see anything like this again”. The latter was from Rio Ferdinand, a former England defender. In my own words, it was of men transcending the moment, of the sum of the moments grander than the men toiling in soulful combat, of the great rewards of precision teamwork, and of all those other overlooked components that make the impossible possible, and to where visions transform into hard-fought reality, the magnet of destiny. It is more than physical. There is a defining spiritual essence that touches and leaves breathless.

GHK Lall

Yes! I write of a game played by men in shorts running back and forth after a ball. The noble Greeks placed a premium on valor and victory on the field of play. The Romans conquered the world with more than their arms and relentless cruelties; theirs was a combination of soundness in mind and body. Working towards an elusive objective, daring to dream, and then living it. I write not of superstars straining every sinew towards that last breath, one more determined step, yet another recharge and restart. Oh, they were there on both sides, with two never say die gladiators refusing to relinquish a second, retreat one step. I will not name one, for that would be a disrespect to the other, an injustice to two champions, two winners who scaled rarified heights and left a delightful treat for us to savor blissfully. The agony and the ecstasy, the thrill of it all. The people in this part of the world, over 40 million of them, have a memorable Christmas to celebrate, some precious, unequal joys to cherish.

If for a game on a floor of green, then I dare to think, to envision, that in the great game of life, other things-more majestic things-are even more possible. But only if there is the investment of will, all one’s will, towards such achievements. Naturally, this calls for, demands, honest toil powered by minds focused on what is best, wholesome, and which can lift and carry high on shoulders, with none left behind. Such can be the products of genuine commitment to the worthiest of causes, the hardest of battles, the most unconquerable of challenges. Leadership of a breed never seen before, a team and teamwork whose handiwork is as good as any Rolls Royce, any space rocket aimed for the moon, some distant planet.

The distant star for us in this country is that one that has proved to be unreachable to this day. Like on that ground on Sunday last, all was left on it, with not an iota of energy withheld, all given to the glory of indomitable drive, of soaring above frailty, rising beyond uncertainties, and resting gracefully after cresting the last obstacle that held back for so long, left so much pain, introduced so much more mysteries. What is said that can’t be done can be done, is done. This has to be the lifelong imperative of every citizen in this country. Without fail, it must be the body armor of those who step forward to take the reins, be such in a victorious proposition or one that fell short by inches. The fact that Guyanese have never had leadership of this caliber should not, must not, serve as a deterrent. The biggest blockages are those of our minds, the resistances that lurk deep inside.

In the game of life, there is the game of politics. And in the Guyanese version of this game, we have never fought cleanly nor wisely nor honorably. It has been the sorrowful saga of one for oneself, and none other counting, not even mattering in the hustle to outrace and out-grab the fruits of triumph, even when all that we have had are pyrrhic victories. The price of progress is that there has been no progress in the one area that means the most to us. Oneness! Togetherness! A team with a theme: we are one, we shall overcome our limitations, we will determine our own destiny in a manner satisfactory to all. And let no one wrest that from us.

For me this is not a game. It is of what could be, then working tirelessly, thanklessly, and tearfully (sometimes) to that goal, that grail that should be the holiest for us. Only then, shall we have positioned ourselves to taste and thrill to the towering gifts that are ours. We Guyanese, too, can have our own long moments of real, deeply joyful celebration. It takes more than one man, or groupings and gatherings of flawed men and women. It takes an extraordinary magnificence of the soul. The first word that comes and fits is unselfishness. The follow-up one is self-sacrifice. When we have given of those, then we have truly wreathed ourselves in glory. When we would have gained is that we have accomplished our own age on the uppermost summit of the world. The world would drink from our cup, on our terms, and Guyana would have truly and finally arrived on the world stage. Because it possessed the sons of daughters who were of such individual and collective prowess, such profoundness.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)