Olympics 2016
To be honest I am not a major Olympics fan. If the Boston Celtics and the New England Patriots are 10's on my must watch scale, the Olympics are about 6. We always watch some of the games, but never make a real effort to see most of it. We are less deliberate feeders at this great international smorgasbord.
With that confession behind me, I must say what a bright light these games have been in a year when the bonds that hold our common humanity together are under extreme strain. The journey of these young athletes is a powerful demonstration that the hate we see displayed in Paris or Trump rallies are the desperate acts of people on the losing end of history. The future belongs to a world that cares more about a persons will to win and their ability to be part of a team than the color of her skin or the name of his house of worship.
When I watched our young female gymnasts march out I thought this is my America. This is who we are. We are not a country populated by the offspring of one nationality or of the upper classes of any nationality. Most of the people who came to this land came in the cheap seats. People whose only distinguishing characteristic is a willingness to take great risk to live a better life.
I watch this spectacle through the eyes of a little boy who was brought into this world by a man and woman who couldn’t or wouldn’t raise him and then by an act which would do credit to a most merciful God was adopted by a couple of very meager means but an overflowing desire to give their adopted son a life which made up for all the deprivations they suffered.
When I look at these young Olympians, I don’t instantly identify with the ones who look most like my children. My heart goes out to a black girl, adopted by her father and his wife, a couple who have loved her as much as any parents ever loved their child. A man and woman who have given all their treasure to help their little girl fulfill her dream. I see my mom and dad in their faces. It is the depth of their love and the their unstrained mercy which makes the different color of their skin so irrelevant. I was elated at Simone’s success because I see Vena and Earle Merrill in Ron and Nellie Biles and I want their unselfish love to be rewarded.
The Olympics are a reminder of our long struggle to shape a world where everyone competes on a even playing field. Where every parent can hope for their children to out distance them. This is the world civilized men and woman have been struggling to build and the Olympics give us renewed resolve not to surrender it to the megalomanic de jour.
With that confession behind me, I must say what a bright light these games have been in a year when the bonds that hold our common humanity together are under extreme strain. The journey of these young athletes is a powerful demonstration that the hate we see displayed in Paris or Trump rallies are the desperate acts of people on the losing end of history. The future belongs to a world that cares more about a persons will to win and their ability to be part of a team than the color of her skin or the name of his house of worship.
When I watched our young female gymnasts march out I thought this is my America. This is who we are. We are not a country populated by the offspring of one nationality or of the upper classes of any nationality. Most of the people who came to this land came in the cheap seats. People whose only distinguishing characteristic is a willingness to take great risk to live a better life.
I watch this spectacle through the eyes of a little boy who was brought into this world by a man and woman who couldn’t or wouldn’t raise him and then by an act which would do credit to a most merciful God was adopted by a couple of very meager means but an overflowing desire to give their adopted son a life which made up for all the deprivations they suffered.
When I look at these young Olympians, I don’t instantly identify with the ones who look most like my children. My heart goes out to a black girl, adopted by her father and his wife, a couple who have loved her as much as any parents ever loved their child. A man and woman who have given all their treasure to help their little girl fulfill her dream. I see my mom and dad in their faces. It is the depth of their love and the their unstrained mercy which makes the different color of their skin so irrelevant. I was elated at Simone’s success because I see Vena and Earle Merrill in Ron and Nellie Biles and I want their unselfish love to be rewarded.
The Olympics are a reminder of our long struggle to shape a world where everyone competes on a even playing field. Where every parent can hope for their children to out distance them. This is the world civilized men and woman have been struggling to build and the Olympics give us renewed resolve not to surrender it to the megalomanic de jour.