People, I am truly ashamed! Last Monday, while Jamaicans were watching Shelly-Ann Fraser storm to gold in the World Championships (with Kerron Stewart second), I did not realise that an even greater day in our history was right under my nose. The 17th of August is the anniversary of the birthday of our first national hero, Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

A feel shame! While I never pride myself on being a big history buff, or being a champion of the teachings of Garvey, I still feel like I should have, at the very least, known that it was Garvey's big day. It kind of makes me feel bad to know I completely forgot about arguably our most well-rounded hero. Garvey was a leader, political activist, businessman, educator, journalist and even had an ear (and lyrics) for music. His teachings and beliefs are still relevant and the Universal Negro Improvement Association is still playing a role, despite the relative lack of media coverage it now gets.

I take consolation in two things. One, I don't think I was alone in forgetting the great man's birthday and two, our athletes performed with the kind of spirit, determination and sheer talent that would have made Garvey proud. Usain, Shelly-Ann, Kerron, Brigitte, Asafa and the whole gang deserve all the credit for showing the world that Beijing was no fluke. One thing that Garvey may not have been pleased about is the passa-passa that took place before the Berlin games.

Daviot Kelly

Now, while it seems that we are always able to do well at the games, it cannot be considered proper preparation. You just feel that one day, they won't be able to patch up the differences. Oh well, we'll cross (or jump off) that bridge when we get there. But still great work from everyone! By the way, is it possible Usain is from another planet?

BY-ELECTION JOKE

Moving on, that by-election in North West Clarendon is quite the joke. The average Jamaican who lives outside of Clarendon (and maybe a few in it), probably can't name one district in the constituency but now it's the centre of the universe. One party decided it nah badda, another that probably has no chance decided it would, an affiliate of those who didn't care expressed an interest (and were unceremoniously told not to) and the party that had already won the seat once just wanted to have it handed over to them. Now dem vex!

Not lost in all this is the money (that we don't have) that we'll have to spend and the effort (which we don't have to waste) that we'll use to ensure a free and fair election. Oh well, democracy at work. I hope Garvey would have been proud of that! Lata.

Tell me if you're as forgetful at daviot.kelly@gleanerjm.com