Will The Olympics Bring Us Together…Even For A Moment?
As we all (should) know, the 2008 Beijing Olympics have arrived and are well underway. In fact, China is running away with the total medal count so far, pocketing gold medals like they were free ketchup packets at the local McDonald’s…that is, assuming the cheap-ass McDonalds’ here in China actually parted with their ketchup packets, what with their stingy two-packets-only-come-back-for-more policy.
Now, I’m writing this post four days after the Opening Ceremony, a spectacular-spectacular that, uh, I must agree was excellent. Part of me thinks this is a good time to write a post, with all the warm, fuzzy feelings the event instilled in me having subsided, and safely removed from the distraction of emotions. The other part of me doesn’t want to discard those emotions, however temporary they may have been the night I watched that annoyingly jumpy satellite feed of the ceremony.
I want to ask an emphatic question, one that can hopefully pierce through all our biased, jaded, or demoralized hearts and minds: “As you watched the Opening Ceremony, as thousands of Chinese put on their grand show, as the symbolic imagery played out before your eyes, as the athletes marched out with flags waving, and as millions of people watched around the world…
…how did you feel?”
No, I’m not asking if you were impressed by the show, or even if you were disgusted by what you consider to be excesses. Nor am I asking what you think about China’s politics, economics, or the state of its society. I’m not asking whether you think China deserved the honor of hosting the Games. Nor am I asking if you think the Olympics is politicized commercialism. I’m asking about you on a personal level, about how you feel about the world you live in and even your place in it.
Have the Opening Ceremony and these Olympic Games affected you, opened your eyes, or given you–dare I say it–hope?
We know that the Olympics has, over time, come to support many causes and movements. Yet, wasn’t the original mission of the modern Olympic Games to bring the world together, to bring us together, to celebrate humanity, our humanity? Wasn’t it about friendly competition, and reminding everyone that we all have similar aspirations that we work towards, that we all delight in our successes and despair at out failures, and that there’s always another chance next time?
The oft-quoted Olympic Creed reads:
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.
There’s something there that should resonate with each and every one of us, and, as the athletes of the world took to the field and viewers around the world tuned in, we should have been reminded that each and every one of us has no choice but to take part in life, struggling and fighting to conquer and triumph over life’s never ending challenges, limitations, and defeats. We should have been able to look past our petty, and even not-so-petty, differences and marvel at our similarities.
For all the stark differences in opinion, values, and ideology, were we able to appreciate the humanity that is shared by us all? Were we able to understand, accept, even appreciate all of the admirable and despicable things that each and every one of us have done and are capable of doing? Because, quite frankly, while we’re all imperfect bastards with skeletons in our closets and shit that stinks, we’re also real living, breathing, feeling people with genuine fears, hopes, and dreams.
Yes, we all know that reality is never quite so simple. We know that even as the Olympics run their course, pain and suffering continue throughout the world, never stopping for the idealistic whims of man.
We know that.
But, for one, single–possibly inconsequential–moment, did you feel anything close to “Hey, we’re going to be okay”?
With all the tolerated genocide, rioting minorities, silenced grievances, information censorship, vetoed sanctions, environmental pollution, civilian surveillance, murdered fathers, competitive cheating, and their persistent constancy reminding us of the aggravating imperfection and seemingly unresolvable differences in the world… for one second were you able to forget? Were you able to look upon the extravagant Opening Ceremony and not think of it as an extravagance, to see past the ostentation and discover a genuine effort to earn your respect and a place by your side? Were you able to let go of your prejudices and agendas to personally see and embrace the Chinese as real people, not just a far-removed concept or, at worst, a threat?
No, you don’t have to agree with everything that happens in China or what the Chinese do, nor ought you accept it and stop fighting against what you believe to be fundamentally wrong. No, not everything behind these Olympic Games are pure and good, free of taint, or wholly in pursuit of universal ideals. But this isn’t about that or them. This is about you. When was the last time you felt, sincerely, that the world isn’t about “us” or “them” prevailing, and that there is, indeed, enough humanity within us all to coexist peacefully with a basic degree of mutual respect?
If you were able to feel that way, then that’s a start… and then maybe–just maybe–we have a chance after all.
