For the past few years, I have been using this space to spout my displeasure at the way things are in this country. For people born in the 1980s and 1990s, the Jamaica they know has been one filled with strife and fear.

During the course of their lifetime, high murder rates, high inflation, and hard times are all they would have known. I grew up in a much different Jamaica - a Jamaica where murders shocked you for days, where neighbours talked across their fences, where a young boy in the country would sit on the counter of his grandmother's shop and listen to farmers talk about their day in the fields.

For me, Jamaica back then was a fun place to be. I am sure that in some remote corner of this country the lifestyle was as it was back then, but the economic situation has only served to blunt the full effect.

This is why I love the Olympic games so much. During those two weeks, I can escape from the realities that face us on a daily basis. It's two weeks of suspending reality by totally immersing oneself in the exploits of the world's greatest athletes performing on the world's biggest stage. The last two Olympiads, however, have been the very best for me because of what our athletes have been able to accomplish. They are living proof that if you put in the work, you can be among the very best in the world.

Overjoyed

I remember back in 1976 when Donald Quarrie almost did the double and how overjoyed I was when he won the 200 metres. I remember how full my heart was and how proud I was of my countryman - a man whom I had never met, but who moved me emotionally more than anyone had up to that point.

I felt the same way in 1992 when Juliet Cuthbert and Winthrop Graham won silver medals in their respective events and filled me with so much joy and pride. Twenty years later, Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Shelly-Ann Fraser, Melaine Walker, and others have replaced the Cuthberts, the Grahams, and the Otteys and have taken our performance at the highest level to a brand-new level. No longer are we the bridesmaids. These days, we are kings and queens of the hill, the very best of what track and field has to offer.

It is during these times that national pride is at its highest. It's the time when we forget about our useless politicians and their greed and selfishness, and ineptitude because our athletes demonstrate that we can succeed without them.

Pride and nationalism

Now that the Olympics is over and we have resumed the drudgery of our regular lives, ask yourselves this question: Wouldn't you like to feel the way we do during the Olympics most of the time - this sense of pride and nationalism? Ask yourselves who or what is preventing us from feeling this way more often than not. By now, you should recognise that we can do better in terms of the people who we choose to represent us. Just as how our athletes can show us that we can be the very best in the world, why is it then that on the home front we are settling for second best?