04th February 2012
Expressing gratitude...

In his regular television programme on Monday 23 January Teddy Francis sat with Darren Sammy and Johnson Charles two young cricketers from Saint Lucia who have both made it to the international stage. Darren is at the moment captain of the Saint Lucia, Windward Islands and West Indies cricket teams. Johnson Charles has yet to make the senior test team but he won selection on the T20 team which competed against England, in England. I was pleased with the manner and tone of the entire interview particularly the maturity and knowledge which captain Sammy had obviously acquired. But it was the statement by the younger Johnson Charles in which he praised Allen Stanford, for his contribution to his (Charles’s) development as a cricketer which, for me, stood out. Stanford, along with West Indies cricket board had insisted on providing professional coaching each of the countries which participated in the inaugural Caribbean T20 competitions in Antigua. Such coaching was particularly beneficial to islands such as Saint Lucia in which traditionally the political directorate was more focused on bricks and mortar development, rather than on improving sportsmen on the island. All this changed when Allen Stanford came to the rescue of West Indies cricket.

I am uncertain whether Johnson Charles has followed the turn of events which led to the arrest of Allen Stanford on charges of alleged fraud. Whatever Charles’ perspective it is still in order for cricketers such as himself to thank Stanford for the good he did for cricket in the region. I have never met Stanford and neither have I been the beneficiary of his largesse. But I feel certain no one who follows cricket will ever forget the T20 cricket match he helped organise between an England eleven and a representative West Indies team in which 20 million dollars was offered to the winner. Darren Sammy was a member of that victorious West Indies team and Darren thus became an instant millionaire. There are many persons including past cricketers, who ought to be grateful for the timely intervention of Allen Stanford in West Indies cricket. Cricketers such as Johnson Charles may well have remained stunted and unfulfilled without the paid professional coaching from Stanford. We therefore need to express gratitude to Stanford for his investments. It was nice to see (and hear) young cricketers express such gratitude. Others may ruin him and lead him to an early grave for his financial shenanigans. But we remain grateful for his aid to West Indies cricket – and Saint Lucia’s in particular.

I therefore now deem it expedient to quote the following lines from Melody Beattie, on the power and virtue of gratitude.
Quote: ‘Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order and confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for a better tomorrow’. That sense of gratitude (to Stanford) which the young cricketer expressed that evening on Teddy Francis show is what I have taken from that show. And based on everything I have come to believe and to hold precious, this young man is destined to go places whether as a cricketer or simply as another traveller into unknown territory, I wish him well.