A GUY'S VIEW
“Show me, Yahweh, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.” (Psalm 39:4-5).
It is important to have one’s priorities in order. The important things should always take precedence, and it is crucial that we know what is truly important in the scheme of things.
Whenever one begins to feel a sense of significance, there is usually something which pops up to remind us to look again at our priorities. If we are wise, we would pause and take note of these cautioning events.
Just over a week ago, we learnt of the death of Tony Cozier. If ever I needed it, that news planted my feet firmly on the earth. It was not the suddenness of his passing, for it was known that he was ailing for some time, but there is a big difference between knowing that a person is ill and hearing of that person’s passing.
Tony Cozier was a cricket commentator. Persons of that profession do not change the world, but Cozier brought life enhancement to many a person who heard his description of the cricket game. He was a great painter of pictures with words. He used words the way a painter uses canvass, a brush and paint.
The uninitiated may ask what could be life enhancing about a cricket commentary. Cozier was a premier commentator when cricket was the only thing that made Caribbean people feel accomplished and on par with the rest of the world. Nothing has done more for the psyche of Caribbean people than our triumphant cricket team. And Cozier described the game for us in a way that no one else could. He did not only speak of the protagonists on the field, but compared field events to aspects of Caribbean life. So that, a set batsman was not seeing the ball “like a football”, as Christopher Martin Jenkins would have observed. For Cozier, he was seeing it like a breadfruit.
He also knew of the importance of cricket to our community, at home and in the diaspora, and this knowledge found its way into his commentary. He would recite stories of work-place encounters between Caribbean people and their British counterparts, set against the background of what was happening in the on-going test match.
At the time when Cozier was at his zenith, the cricket game was not commonly televised, and yet he transported us to wherever in the world our champions were on the field of play, or battle. That transportation was not just the announcement of the name of the ground that was hosting the match. He described the physical features of the facility, the surrounding flora, and, most important, the environment inside the stadium, especially the pulse of the crowd. When the top names in commentary were on the job and at their best, none of them could overshadow Tony Cozier.
Demonstrating his refreshing lack of political correctness, Cozier was willing to be critical of any of our players. Not surprisingly, some felt that their non-shining stars were being brought down to earth by him and took umbrage at his comments. To his credit, and our benefit, he kept going undeterred by our small mindedness. Too often, persons who are engaged in a significant work walk away from it because of the uninformed mouthings of people who can make no contribution to anything. Cozier was not guilty of this because he was confident in himself.
It is immaterial whether we agreed with all of his positions. It is impossible for the five million cricket experts we have in the Caribbean to agree on everything. He was a commentator extraordinaire and that is beyond dispute. Few of us could aspire to be as good at what we do as he was at what he did, so exceptional was he.
Tony Cozier found his niche and he excelled. His was an example that is worthy of emulation. But he is gone. His passing is a sad event, but it is also humbling, not merely due to the emotional pain it brings, but in what we see through the introspection it causes. It is a reminder that regardless of what we achieve in this life, we will die. It is against this background that we should select our priorities. When larger than life individuals depart this life, all of us may be made to look at our lives. There is a feeling of inevitability about our temporariness.
The father of former Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Owen Arthur, passed recently as well. He was not a world famous individual. His fame may have been confined to St. Peter, but, to his family, his life was no less significant than Tony Cozier’s.
The senior Arthur was a humble shopkeeper, but he produced a Prime Minister of this country. Through his son, he touched the life of every Barbadian. There is also a lesson in this observation. Not everyone will find their glory in a traditional place, but everyone has a place of accomplishment. When Cozier started out as a commentator, his field was not one of universal acclaim, fame and riches. By the time he departed, he, and a few others, had changed that. As a people, we can learn that the best we can do is to do the best we can where we are.
Our lives are made richer by the contribution of persons of merit who have sprung up among us. The contributions of such persons may be wide and varied, for human beings have a wide array of needs. The Coziers of this world reach their high levels because of self-assuredness. They are not afraid to differ from the crowd and become part of an exceptional class. Ann Landers put it this way:
“Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being cocky. Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared. It is self-discipline and self-knowledge. It’s the sure-footedness that comes with having proved you can meet life.”