Contributed
LEFT: President of Miss Jamaica UK pageant June Daley (right) and Odell Campbell (second left), are in a jubilant mood as they join the crowd in Trafalgar Square, London, last Friday to celebrate the fantastic win by Jamaica's men's 4x100 men's relay team.
Photo by Janet Silvera
RIGHT: Manager of Bank of Nova Scotia Sam Sharpe Square, Linley Reynolds (left), and Minister of Water and Housing, Dr Horace Chang and his wife, Paulette, just before the 4x100 metres relay on Friday morning at Pier One in Montego Bay.

Chester Francis-Jackson, Sunday Gleaner Writer

In Jamaica's history, there have been far too few moments that have produced a groundswell of patriotism and the sense of pride that we have seen this past week. It has enveloped the nation, removing class and social barriers in an overwhelming sense of nationalism.

One recalls the exploits of the national football team and its World Cup qualifying run that saw an outpouring of nationalism, engineered by the talent and industry of a few, but celebrated by the many.

The same is true of our current experiences brought on by our historic performance at the 29th Olympiad, as it is the few that are again responsible for the country's respite from the drudgery of eking out an existence. Truth be told, it is the competitive spirit that is individually and uniquely the Jamaican identity, born from the experience of having to learn the art of survival at a very early age, as children coming from large families know only too well.

Nationalism

This has fuelled the current wave of nationalism, as we celebrate our track-and-field heroes. It is that same energy that fuels that divisive and destructive alter ego that has produced some of our more embarrassing moments, and which is also at the heart of our desire to chart a unified violence-free Jamaica.

To our everlasting shame and continued degradation, we are still unable to harness and channel the energies of our young and sometimes hopeless people, into positive and productive endeavours. If we had an educational system that educated, not just in literacy and numeracy, but in a manner that included the identification of the various avenues and possibilities representing successful opportunities waiting to be exploited, we would not have this present dilemma.

In this respect, far too many of our young people, both in the urban and rural contexts, have come to see the State, and by extension, partisan politics as their sole avenue of realising some meagre existence.

Faced odds

When our sportsmen and other artistes triumph over various odds to become number one, especially when they emerge from the ranks of economically depressed communities, they do so with the full blessings of their fellow journeymen and the entire nation. Their individual triumphs represent the hoped-for success of many and speak to the strengths of national-istic machismo.

The Beijing 2008 Olympics managed to have captured and mirrored the hopes and aspirations of the nation. It was a reminder of the ups and downs of individual paths. It tapped into a much wider cause - something to believe in, as the nation is now in search of new causes. Our Olympians with their triumphs and failures offered a ray of hope. And for this, the nation owes them all a debt of gratitude.

The Jamaican Olympic team gave the nation several golden reasons to celebrate, and as we do, we hail those who made it all possible.

Medal haul

So, with a record medal haul and world-record times that have put the nation front and centre of the world, where our dietary practices, cultural expressions and national peculiarities are now being celebrated, we laud all those who made it happen, especially our athletes, team leaders and officials, support staff and coaches Glen Mills and Stephen Francis, athletes Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Michael Frater, Nesta Carter, Marvin Anderson, Dwight Thomas, Julien Dunkley, André Wellington, Christopher Williams, Michael Blackwood, Ricardo Chambers, Sanjay Ayre, Allodin Fothergill, Marvin Essor, Lansford Spence, Maurice Wignall, Richard Phillips, Danny McFarlane, Markino Buckley, Adrian Findlay, Isa Phillips, Herbert McGregor, Dorian Scott, Aldwyne Sappleton and Maurice Smith.

Shelly-Ann Fraser, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Melaine Walker, Kerron Stewart, Sherone Simpson, Sherri-Ann Brooks, Aleen Bailey, Kenia Sinclair, Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Delloreen Ennis-London, Simone Facey, Nickiesha Anderson, Rosemarie Whyte, Novlene Williams-Mills, Shericka Williams, Shareefa Lloyd, Bobby-Gaye Wilkins, Anastasia Le-Roy, Madrea Hyman, Korine Hinds, Chelsea Hammond, Vonette Dixon, Andrea Bliss, Nickiesha Wilson, Shevon Stoddart and Olivia McKoy.

Take a bow, y'all, our beloved countrymen, in whom we are well pleased.