This week, thousands of athletes will start to descend on Bermuda to take part in the Island Games. With them will also come a posse of press people wielding cameras and video cameras.First impressions will count. It is what the athletes and the media people will remember and take home with them.So here is a chance to showcase the best of Bermuda — its friendliness, its ‘go out of the way to help you’ attitude, its beauty — to a truly international audience.It is to be hoped that next week the pages of this newspaper are filled with stories of sporting prowess — hopefully Bermudian prowess — and not tales of crime, strikes and political bickering. Similarly, it is to be hoped that the newspapers, radios and televisions screens of the Islands taking part are filled with the same content (Bermudian golds included ...)Hopefully, in more ways than one Bermuda will strike gold.Last week, the best of Bermudian talent had a fantastic showcase that lit up the pages of this newspaper. Throughout the week fashion events were held at various venues, culminating in a fashion extravaganza at City Hall on Saturday.It was a pleasure to see such effort and skill and creativity go into these events — and to be sure, there should be some very proud people (and parents) out there.Now what about the future? Bermuda has probably the worst crisis in its history to deal with — the economy and some painful decisions are going to have to be made.But when you look at the creativity involved in events like the fashion and the hard work by young people to rise to athletic challenges like the Island Games, it is difficult not to think that the Island will be in good hands.* Want to take issue with anything I say? Do it in 140 characters or less and tweet with me: https://twitter.com/jeremydeacon1