Kangaloo: Let our words bring light, not heat

Pres­i­dent Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo has called on cit­i­zens to em­brace truth, com­pas­sion and re­spect­ful di­a­logue, say­ing these val­ues are es­sen­tial to pre­serv­ing uni­ty and strength­en­ing T&T’s democ­ra­cy.

In her mes­sage mark­ing Di­vali 2026, Kan­ga­loo re­flect­ed on the deep­er mean­ing of the ob­ser­vance and its rel­e­vance to mod­ern so­ci­ety, en­cour­ag­ing cit­i­zens to put the prin­ci­ples of truth, courage and un­der­stand­ing in­to prac­tice.

The pres­i­dent not­ed that Di­vali com­mem­o­rates the re­turn of Lord Ram and Moth­er Si­ta to Ay­o­d­hya af­ter 14 years of ex­ile, an oc­ca­sion marked by rows of deyas sym­bol­is­ing the vic­to­ry of good over evil, knowl­edge over ig­no­rance and light over dark­ness.

Us­ing the deya as a cen­tral sym­bol, she said the fes­ti­val of­fers an im­por­tant les­son about in­di­vid­ual re­spon­si­bil­i­ty and moral courage.

“The deya is small, yet it does not bar­gain with the dark­ness; it sim­ply gives its light,” Kan­ga­loo said, adding that Di­vali chal­lenges peo­ple not on­ly to ad­mire good­ness and truth, but to live by those prin­ci­ples, es­pe­cial­ly dur­ing dif­fi­cult times.

The pres­i­dent al­so not­ed the im­por­tance of con­struc­tive pub­lic dis­course, stress­ing that cit­i­zens share a re­spon­si­bil­i­ty both when ex­press­ing opin­ions and when lis­ten­ing to oth­ers.

“Prac­tis­ing truth, as Di­vali calls us to do, re­quires the courage to speak with fair­ness and re­spon­si­bil­i­ty. This re­spon­si­bil­i­ty is im­posed in both di­rec­tions. When we speak, we should do so truth­ful­ly and with­out mal­ice; and when we lis­ten, we should re­ceive dif­fer­ing views with pa­tience and gen­eros­i­ty. When can­dour is tem­pered by com­pas­sion, dis­agree­ment need not be­come di­vi­sion, and the ex­change of ideas can deep­en rather than di­min­ish our com­mon life,” she said.

Kan­ga­loo warned against al­low­ing dis­agree­ments to cre­ate di­vi­sion, ar­gu­ing that open and re­spect­ful ex­changes of ideas can strength­en na­tion­al life when tem­pered by com­pas­sion and un­der­stand­ing.

“Let us al­so make room with­in our­selves for con­science, com­pas­sion and dis­cern­ment. Let our words bring light rather than heat, and let our dif­fer­ences en­large, rather than nar­row, our sense of com­mon be­long­ing,” she added.

De­scrib­ing Di­vali as a cel­e­bra­tion that tran­scends re­li­gion, the pres­i­dent said the fes­ti­val is a gift to the en­tire na­tion and a re­minder that T&T’s strength lies in its di­ver­si­ty and shared val­ues.

Against that back­drop, Kan­ga­loo urged cit­i­zens to car­ry the spir­it of Di­vali be­yond the cel­e­bra­tion it­self and in­to their every­day in­ter­ac­tions with one an­oth­er.

She ex­pressed hope that the fes­ti­val would in­spire a re­newed com­mit­ment to un­der­stand­ing, mu­tu­al re­spect and na­tion­al uni­ty.

“May every deya lit this Di­vali re­new in us the wis­dom to recog­nise truth, the courage to speak it re­spon­si­bly, and the grace to hear it, even when it is dif­fi­cult. May its light guide Trinidad and To­ba­go to­wards a fu­ture shaped by truth, jus­tice and mu­tu­al re­spect,” the Pres­i­dent said.