SWAHA congratulates Keshorn Walcott and all medallists on their most outstanding achievements at the Olympic Games 2012. Their hard work, perseverance and intense commitment have paid off and brought much glory to our nation.
Indeed, the entire Olympic team must be commended for their effort at seeking to attain such heights of excellence and also for rekindling fires of hope and faith in our land and people.
Amidst the immense pride and joy the team has gifted our nation, they have also brought home some potent lessons for all. One of the most profound messages came from our gold medallist, Keshorn Walcott, as he reflected on the road to his victory. He attributed some of the skills he acquired to the experience he gleaned in pelting mangoes and coconuts. Even his father endorsed this activity as an integral factor to his javelin-throwing ability. Such an experience speaks much of the tremendous value of outdoor life and the benefits that can be derived from it. Without a doubt, most of our participants at the Olympics would have had their initiation into the sports arena via the open air, the village savannah and the grassy grounds.
Sad to say, however, with a variation in lifestyles today, and with the growing economic and safety issues, childhood has moved indoors. Additionally, with the creation of a digi-world and its attendant profusion of computer activities and social networking devices, outdoor life and unstructured outdoor activities have been pushed into near oblivion. Such a shift to the inside, as it were, is rapidly endangering the health and wellbeing of our younger generation. A sedentary lifestyle has become the norm as our youth remain cooped up in a digital world, robbed of the healthy outdoors and physical fitness. Soon enough, children may be unable to even identify the trees, much less get the fruits!
From a SWAHA perspective that pursues the path of all-round development, the leadership appeals to parents to get the children outdoors. Don’t allow them to be stuck indoors all day behind some electronic device. Get them engaged in healthy outdoor recreation which will most definitely help them to develop skills of social interaction, critical-thinking, decision-making and other life-enhancing abilities. Allow them to acquire a sense of independence and self-discipline in the natural outdoors. These are assets to improving academic performance. Get their creative juices flowing! Help them to become actively involved in the many sports clubs, religious, community and village groups where they live. At the moment many facilities are being built or refurbished for sports and for serving the interests of social and youth development. On this note, kudos must be extended to the Ministry of Education for the inclusion of Aesthetics and Creative Arts into the syllabus of SEA. Indeed, such an initiative and other outdoor recreational activities may be able to do much to wage the war against obesity and ADHD disorders, which are engaging the attention of our educators at the moment.
At this time of celebration of our Olympic successes, SWAHA implores all to reflect on the road that lies ahead. We need to invest in our youth. They are our future. We must intensify our efforts at preserving the physical, psychological and social wellbeing of our youth. We must do whatever we can to ensure that all live by the maxim, ‘A healthy mind in a healthy body.’
Once again, congratulations to our Olympic team 2012.
