Dear Editor,

I want to start by saying congratulations to the entire Jamaican athletics team and the coaching staff that went to Beijing, China, for the recent World Championships. What we saw taking place in Beijing is nothing short of splendid. It was an awesome week of our athletic prowess being paraded worldwide to hundreds sitting in the Bird’s Nest and then being streamed to millions around the world.

Again our sportsmen and sportswomen proved to the world that, without the aid of any banned substance, we “likkle but we tallawah”. Nine days of competition and we finished second on the medal table above the great United States of America. This is well worth celebrating.

With that in mind, having watched a clip of the crowd that gathered in Half-Way-Tree, and following the hundreds of Facebook and Twitter social media updates, I am convinced that sports always, let me repeat, always, unites us as a people. There were people from all over Jamaica who had gathered to cheer on all our athletes in their various races — win, lose or draw. When I look at this I have to marvel at how great a country we are and, despite our many challenges, despite our political persuasions, and despite our religious differences, that which unites us is greater than that which divides us.

What we did in Beijing again shows that, although we have little resources, including finances, we can produce such greatness. Let us not treat this unity and coming together as a fleeting moment. Let us resolve as a nation that we can come together. Let us resolve as a nation to be in unison and stand against that which is eating away at the heart of our greatness. As I watch from the diaspora, I cannot but think that every Jamaican from Morant Bay to Negril Point and from Miami to the North Pole must feel proud to be a Jamaican.

Ralston Chamberlain

Toronto, Canada

ralston.chamberlain@alum.utoronto.ca