Usain Bolt, The Beatles, and Jesus

Usain Bolt may not be more popular than Jesus Christ, as John Lennon of the Beatles once quoted about the Pop group in relation to Him which lead to a massive book burning protest on July 29, 1966.

In 1966, DATEbook magazine published an excerpt of an earlier John interview where he stated that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus”.

Nearly forty years later, the Beatles are still apologizing for that statement.

But there is a striking similarity between these 2 great heroes or Pop Icons.

When the Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan show on February 9, 1964, not one youth related crime was reported in America. Back then, no one had VCRs, PVRs or TiVos. Every teenager and young adult was glued to the television. Crime took a day off.

It was reported on the day of the 100 meter Final in Beijing, there were no murders in Jamaica.

Here is a snippet of a great article from the Timesonline.co.uk

So you have to wonder what happens a little farther down the line in early October, when the official celebrations are planned. When all Jamaica’s medal-winners are home, there will an official national holiday lasting three days and in some parts of the island they are planning for six.

That is the effect that the Olympics had on Jamaica. Barbara Blake Hannah, a special consultant to the Ministry of Information, Culture and Sports, said: “Sports is one thing that holds Jamaica together. I heard that on the day of Bolt’s 100 metres, no one here was killed. Even murder took a holiday for him.”

In a country where the average homicide rate is nearly three per day, this is alarming. In fact, based on per capita of 100,000 people, Jamaica ranks 3rd for the highest homicide rates!

TOP TEN COUNTRIES FOR HOMICIDE, PER COUNTRY PER 100,000

(1) Colombia 63
(2) South Africa 51
(3) Jamaica 32
(4) Venezuela 32
(5) Russia 19
(6) Mexico 13
(7) Lithuania 10
(8) Estonia 10
(9) Latvia 10
(10) Belarus 9

Source: Interpol, 2003 statistics

So this is great news. We need to keep today’s youth off the streets and focus on their creative abilities whether it be academics, music or sports.

I am glad sports, and in particular Track & Field or Athletics as it’s called in the rest of the world, is making an impact in today’s population.