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October 24, 2014
Star Commentary



 

Much ado about nothing

There seems to be something innate in some of us that prevent us from being gracious, something that prevent us from displaying any level of empathy whatsoever. I have no idea what causes that kind of behaviour, but it certainly is annoying.

So Usain Bolt buys his mom a car; from the pictures posted on Facebook it looks like a very nice Honda Accord. By the time I saw the post it had already generated about 30,000 likes and a few hundred comments. Now, I would love to buy my mom a car, any car but unfortunately, I am unable to. It is one of my biggest disappointments.

However, to see someone being able to do that for his mom made me smile. For me, that is a big deal because I don't get to smile much these days. One of the days I will probably reveal all as to the reason why. But to see the fastest man in history, the highest paid track and field athlete in history buy his mom a nice new car, made me feel nice and warm inside. I can't imagine how good Mrs Bolt felt when she woke up and saw that spanking new car in her driveway.

Being cheap

The good feelings lingered right up until I began to read some of the comments below the picture. There were people actually cussing Bolt accusing him of being cheap. Now here's the thing. Yes, we know Bolt earns millions of real dollars and could have afforded to buy her something much nicer than an Accord but it's his money and he does with it what he chooses.

A car like that costs about seven or eight million Jamaican dollars, that's a pretty neat gift for anyone to get. One guy commented that Bolt should have got his mom a Bugatti. I suspect he meant the Veyron which costs approximately US$2.25 million, which if he did, is absolutely ridiculous. Does this guy know about Jamaican roads and what the import duty would be on Veyron? Bolt is rich but he is not Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods or Floyd Mayweather Jr. That US$5 million that Bolt would have to pay to get that car into Jamaica would be a sizeable chunk of his wealth. And really, what would Mrs Bolt be doing with a Veyron? She is not Lewis Hamilton.

Land Rover

Another 'hater' suggested that Bolt should have bought his mom a Land Rover, another suggested a Mercedes Benz, both a lot more expensive than the one he bought. But here are a couple things that a lot of those people have not considered. Is Mrs Bolt happy with her Honda? The other thing is what if that was what she actually wanted? If the answer is yes to both, these people need to just shut up and share in her joy.

Sometimes we need to leave well enough alone and just accept things they way they are. Bolt bought his mom a car and she is happy. The way I see it, if she is happy I love it.

There is something else that caught my attention this week, and that is how disinterested we are in The Voice this year despite the fact that there is another extremely talented Jamaican participating. Last year when Tessanne Chin was a contestant, there were constant Facebook posts about her performances, stories in the newspaper, voting night parties and all that. This year Anita Antoinette Fearon, who lives in the USA, and a brilliant singer is there battling and not a peep.

What? Don't we want her to win too? Like Tessanne, she also got the four judges to turn and like Tessanne she is very talented and very authentic. So what has changed? Tessanne has sent her love and support to Anita, why aren't we doing the same?

It seems we are only proud of our fellow Jamaicans when it is convenient and that's very sad.

Send comments to levyl1@hotmail.com.

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