The Editor, Sir:

I have just finished watching the opening ceremony of the Cricket World Cup, and I'm left with a feeling of disappointment because of a number of glaring omissions. We had the world watching, yet we showed no scenes of beaches, waterfalls, or mountains; and no scenes of our children at play, or our athletes, businessmen and women or educational institutions.

We have not done ourselves proud, and certainly could have done better in presenting a truer picture of who we are as a Caribbean people. Are we only reggae, calypso, and carnival? Aren't we also a very religious people?

The Caribbean has a wealth of religions and a depth of religiosity that is intertwined within the other aspects of our culture, and even underpins it, yet this feature was completely ignored. There could have at least been a folk song or negro spiritual, to link us with our African slave past mingled with our new-world Christianisation. This would have been just as culturally relevant as all the other stuff presented.

My intention is not to be a spoil-sport. In many other areas it was a spectacle of true worth and beauty, but it could have been a better reflection of who we are, without these glaring omissions, at least to my wife, and to me.

I am, etc.,

LLOYD A. COOKE

Box 642, Mandeville P.O.