Four years ago, a Catholic News editorial commenting on the World Cup “fever” which was then gripping Trinidad and Tobago began with the words of a popular folk hymn: “We’ll just say that we’ve been to the mountain and caught a glimpse of all that we could be.”

These words are even more appropriate today as the Soca Warriors return home. That 2002 editorial drew attention to the technology of modern media that brought the people of Trinidad and Tobago close to faraway countries playing in the World Cup, far away purely in terms of geography. This year, our nation competed; we were more than close. We were there.

The World Cup is about much more than the mechanics of the game of football or the skill of players. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, in a recent article carried in the International Herald Tribune, considered “with envy” the global impact of the World Cup.

He said, “I wish we had more of that sort of competition in the family of nations: countries openly vying for the best standing in the table of respect for human rights, and trying to outdo one another in child survival rates or enrolment in secondary education.”

As the Secretary General noted, “everybody on the planet loves talking” about the World Cup, debating what their team did right and where it went wrong.

Without doubt, conversations about when Russell Latapy should have been brought into the attack in our last game against Paraguay will continue for some time. But there is another kind of conversation going on.

True national heroes

The society has been in conversation with itself: about what is possible for this tiny country and what is not, about the stuff of which we are made, about what makes us one.

It has been talking with a sensitivity reflected in the words of goalkeeper Shaka Hislop after his improbable call to duty and an outstanding game against Sweden: “It was a perfect day. Well, not quite perfect because I really felt for Kelvin [Jack].”

Looking ahead to the next game, he said: “I don’t know whether I’ll be playing yet. What happened to Kelvin Jack on Saturday reminded me that you can’t take anything for granted.

But it’s not about me or Kelvin. It’s about Trinidad and Tobago.” As it turns out, it has not been only about Trinidad and Tobago but about the Caribbean. It has been about Caribbean people the world over.

In today’s gospel, Jesus takes the boat with his disciples to “cross over the other side”. Along the way, a storm develops which threatens to sink the boat while Jesus sleeps. The frightened men awake the Master and experience the almighty power of God (Mark 4: 35-41).

The 2006 World Cup (in Germany has caused citizens of Trinidad and Tobago and its supporters – people who have all experienced anxieties, doubt and victory in their private lives – to become companions.

During the two-week campaign by the Soca Warriors at the World Cup, the fears, doubts and expectations of a people became their prayer; the self-belief and constant hope for the future – signs of God’s presence.

Government and a responsible mass media must do all they can to ensure that the present moment is etched in the memory of the nation and so prepare future generations to recognise the Soca Warriors as true national heroes.