Jackass sey de worl' no level. Jackass sey im bray some laugh wen dem show whe de hatleet dem a Beijing come from, cause im know sey certin Jumaican no waan see dat pan TV.

One of the greatest parts of the Olympics coverage was the TV trips to the areas where some of the top athletes are from. What a pot cover beating! What a dancehall skanking! What a view of some swimming pool pothole and zinc up, zinc up!

Persistent poverty

Jackass had a hearty laugh, because he knows that there was quite a large section of Jamaica which cringed from the television when those scenes came on, that there were persons who would have preferred that those images of earthy exuberance and persistent poverty had not been broadcast.

I can almost hear them saying "my God, what will the tourists think?" and "good Lord, are those Jamaicans like myself?".

But that is how life is. You can ignore the people from what Etana would call the 'Wrong Address' so much and no more, because when they 'bus out' their roots come with the fruit that we all love.

Excelled far and beyond

But the world is not level at all, because many of the people who have become the face of Jamaica internationally have not had the advantages that others have had yet they have excelled far and beyond any expectations. How, Jackass asks, does someone who comes from an area where there is only concrete, and the green spaces are limited to party colours become a top footballer? Yet they have excelled; check the Reggae Boyz team that got to the World Cup finals in France.

Dirt track littered with stones

How does someone who goes to a primary school where the playing field is a dirt track littered with stones, sometimes running on it barefoot, still come out a champion? And this is running against people who have been to schools with all the possible comfortable sporting facilities, not only in Jamaica but from all over the world.

Opportunists

Of course, the Olympic success has brought the opportunists out of the woodwork. Jackass has never seen so many congratulatory adverts in his life. But, suppose, just suppose, the companies that spent so much money congratulating the champions (and, of course, getting advertising mileage out of it) just put 10 per cent of that into the primary school championships every year? Wouldn't that mean tons more champions in 20 years time?

Olympic spirit

As for the prime minister asking that the people 'cool it' in continuation of the Olympic spirit, Jackass must remind y'all that record medal hauls and records, or not, Cash Plus has still crashed, the dons are still around, homes are still broken and communities still divided along borderlines that were originally drawn because of politics.

Little running, little flag waving and a couple spins of the National Anthem are not going to change that.

Jackass sey de worl' no level. Jackass sey respeck to de people dem whe support de Olympians as yute an yute wen dem did a grow up and a come.