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At our dichotomous best
Published: Monday | August 31, 2009
Garth Rattray
IF ANYONE didn't know about Jamaica, they certainly know about us now. If the world didn't know what our flag looked like before, they do now. If anyone didn't have a clue about our classical and robust national anthem, they know now - it was played a record seven times during the 12th International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany.
All of our participating athletes at the games made their sport, themselves and Jamaica proud. Our medal-winning performances were nothing short of astounding. Our athletes exhibited high goals, discipline and valour. Our seven gold, four silver and two bronze (a total of 13) medals were even more awesome when one considers our tiny size. At one point this little nation led the mighty United States of America - we ended up coming second out of 202 countries (about 1800 world-class athletes).
To think that a little, debt-burdened, developing country with a population of 2,719,000 (compared to that of the United States - 307,214,000) and with infinitely less financial, human and structural resources than the many developed countries that competed in the championship; domi-nated those games is mind-boggling. It speaks volumes about our natural talent and resolve.
At a loss for words
The sports commentators shrieked with excitement as they used adjectives like, phenomenal, sensational, unbelievable, amazing, incredible and out-of-this-world to describe Jamaica's many medal-winning performances, but they ran out of superlatives when describing Usain Bolt as he chopped 0.11 seconds off both his 100 metre and 200 metre records.
I was especially impressed with the determination of Melaine Walker as she gave her all to win the 400 metre hurdles. Our other individual gold medal-lists, 100-metre hurdler, 34-year-old Brigitte Foster-Hylton, and Shelly-Ann Fraser were sources of great excitement and inspiration. The team gold medals earned by Usain Bolt, Steve Mullings, Asafa Powell, Michael Frater, Aleen Bailey, Kerron Stewart, Shelly-Ann Fraser and Simone Facey were gratifying.
Our individual silver medallists, Kerron Stewart, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Shericka Williams, along with our team silver-medallists, Shericka Williams, Novelene Williams-Mills, Shereefa Lloyd and Rosemarie Whyte gave scintillating performances. And, our bronze medallists Delloreen Ennis- London and Asafa Powell were rock solid athletes.
Athletes vs criminals
Several of our athletes grew up in the same socio-economic conditions that we blame for producing criminals of all sorts. So, while our track heroes made Jamaica proud and made us a household name over the entire globe, while they shocked and awed powerful nations, while they ensconced us as the sprint capital of the world during the nine days that they earned the admiration of countries far and wide, others busied themselves by highlighting our dichotomy and establishing us as the (per capita) murder capital of the world by killing 35 people here at home.
While our athletes made us scream with delight, our criminals made us scream in horror. While our athletes made hearts race in anticipation, our criminals made hearts race with fear. While our athletes produced tears of joy, our criminals produced tears or sadness. While our athletes earned our admiration, our criminals earned our disgust. As our athletes lift us up, our criminals tear us down.
We simply cannot continue like this. We need to investigate what separates our athletes from some of their peers. Was it their parents, wider family, community support, religion, schooling or opportunities? There is too much good in this little island of ours. We must make every effort to reduce crime by getting to the root causes. It's not too late for us - our athletes have made sure of that.
Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. He may be contacted at garthrattray@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.
Published: Monday | August 31, 2009
Garth Rattray
IF ANYONE didn't know about Jamaica, they certainly know about us now. If the world didn't know what our flag looked like before, they do now. If anyone didn't have a clue about our classical and robust national anthem, they know now - it was played a record seven times during the 12th International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany.
All of our participating athletes at the games made their sport, themselves and Jamaica proud. Our medal-winning performances were nothing short of astounding. Our athletes exhibited high goals, discipline and valour. Our seven gold, four silver and two bronze (a total of 13) medals were even more awesome when one considers our tiny size. At one point this little nation led the mighty United States of America - we ended up coming second out of 202 countries (about 1800 world-class athletes).
To think that a little, debt-burdened, developing country with a population of 2,719,000 (compared to that of the United States - 307,214,000) and with infinitely less financial, human and structural resources than the many developed countries that competed in the championship; domi-nated those games is mind-boggling. It speaks volumes about our natural talent and resolve.
At a loss for words
The sports commentators shrieked with excitement as they used adjectives like, phenomenal, sensational, unbelievable, amazing, incredible and out-of-this-world to describe Jamaica's many medal-winning performances, but they ran out of superlatives when describing Usain Bolt as he chopped 0.11 seconds off both his 100 metre and 200 metre records.
I was especially impressed with the determination of Melaine Walker as she gave her all to win the 400 metre hurdles. Our other individual gold medal-lists, 100-metre hurdler, 34-year-old Brigitte Foster-Hylton, and Shelly-Ann Fraser were sources of great excitement and inspiration. The team gold medals earned by Usain Bolt, Steve Mullings, Asafa Powell, Michael Frater, Aleen Bailey, Kerron Stewart, Shelly-Ann Fraser and Simone Facey were gratifying.
Our individual silver medallists, Kerron Stewart, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Shericka Williams, along with our team silver-medallists, Shericka Williams, Novelene Williams-Mills, Shereefa Lloyd and Rosemarie Whyte gave scintillating performances. And, our bronze medallists Delloreen Ennis- London and Asafa Powell were rock solid athletes.
Athletes vs criminals
Several of our athletes grew up in the same socio-economic conditions that we blame for producing criminals of all sorts. So, while our track heroes made Jamaica proud and made us a household name over the entire globe, while they shocked and awed powerful nations, while they ensconced us as the sprint capital of the world during the nine days that they earned the admiration of countries far and wide, others busied themselves by highlighting our dichotomy and establishing us as the (per capita) murder capital of the world by killing 35 people here at home.
While our athletes made us scream with delight, our criminals made us scream in horror. While our athletes made hearts race in anticipation, our criminals made hearts race with fear. While our athletes produced tears of joy, our criminals produced tears or sadness. While our athletes earned our admiration, our criminals earned our disgust. As our athletes lift us up, our criminals tear us down.
We simply cannot continue like this. We need to investigate what separates our athletes from some of their peers. Was it their parents, wider family, community support, religion, schooling or opportunities? There is too much good in this little island of ours. We must make every effort to reduce crime by getting to the root causes. It's not too late for us - our athletes have made sure of that.
Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. He may be contacted at garthrattray@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.