Proud to be Red, White, and Black
Well, our Soca Warriors lost to England in the World Cup today, but damn, they put up a good fight. We, the smallest country ever to play in the World Cup finals, held one of the world’s greatest teams – including “Bend It” Beckham, and trust me, he can bend me anytime – at bay for 82 minutes. It hurt, badly, to see us lose a game that was so critical to the hopes of this country.
But you know, I’m proud of them. They’ve won the respect of the world, who thought we’d be pushovers, a nothing side, a guaranteed win, especially after we held a team like Sweden to a Nil-Nil draw last week. The world has sat up and taken notice. And not just of the courage of our players, but the character of Trinidad and Tobago’s people, both here and abroad. Our supporters have been met with nothing but warm, open arms by the Germans, and everyone else we’ve met.
I went to see the match in the cinema today, we had a live feed on a huge screen. What a way to watch a match! And again, my people made me proud. We were all so full of expectations, so happy, all wearing our national colors, red, white and black, all leaping to our feet to sing along with the national anthem when it played on that football field thousands of miles away. And in the Cinema lobby, a true Trini party was going on. Faces being painted in our national colors, T&T flags waving, and, most of all, an “Engine Room”, what we call a percussion musical group, who beat out rhythms while we danced. It was beautiful. And even though we lost today, the way my people conducted themselves made me very proud to be a Trinidadian.
And as I was driving home, reflecting on how important it is for us to keep up the self-esteem of our people, and make sure that whatever we did, we did well in the eyes of the world, I wished I was athletic, so that I could find myself somewhere on the world stage, doing something that would make my country proud of me. And then I thought. . . oh, you know what? I don’t have to be an athlete to do that. I write! I work damn hard, and I am a multi-published author, and I write about my country for people to see, and sit up, and take notice. That’s good enough, isn’t it?
But you know, I’m proud of them. They’ve won the respect of the world, who thought we’d be pushovers, a nothing side, a guaranteed win, especially after we held a team like Sweden to a Nil-Nil draw last week. The world has sat up and taken notice. And not just of the courage of our players, but the character of Trinidad and Tobago’s people, both here and abroad. Our supporters have been met with nothing but warm, open arms by the Germans, and everyone else we’ve met.
I went to see the match in the cinema today, we had a live feed on a huge screen. What a way to watch a match! And again, my people made me proud. We were all so full of expectations, so happy, all wearing our national colors, red, white and black, all leaping to our feet to sing along with the national anthem when it played on that football field thousands of miles away. And in the Cinema lobby, a true Trini party was going on. Faces being painted in our national colors, T&T flags waving, and, most of all, an “Engine Room”, what we call a percussion musical group, who beat out rhythms while we danced. It was beautiful. And even though we lost today, the way my people conducted themselves made me very proud to be a Trinidadian.
And as I was driving home, reflecting on how important it is for us to keep up the self-esteem of our people, and make sure that whatever we did, we did well in the eyes of the world, I wished I was athletic, so that I could find myself somewhere on the world stage, doing something that would make my country proud of me. And then I thought. . . oh, you know what? I don’t have to be an athlete to do that. I write! I work damn hard, and I am a multi-published author, and I write about my country for people to see, and sit up, and take notice. That’s good enough, isn’t it?
posted by Roslyn | 6:54 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home