All Eyes on China

The glory of the games!

We're enjoying watching the Olympics at our place. We let Lil' Princess stay up late to watch a majority of the opening ceremonies, and have had the TV on much of this afternoon. She's asked alot of questions, and was impressed with some of the gymnastic events in particular. RevDad was on the swim team in high school, so he's kept an eye on the water events. I just love it all! I totally buy into the whole package - nations coming together, united by the love of athletics and excellance, celebrating what brings us together.

Now, there are plenty of politics swirling around these Olympics. Because China is hosting, and have a terrible history with human rights violations, plus the whole Tibet issue, there are those who are calling for the public to boycott the games. Others are ticked with how NBC is handling the broadcasting of the events.

I'm just glad in our fractured world full of sound bytes, violence and reactionary thinking, that we can still come together for something better. We can all still agree on some ideals and seek to attain them. We can recognize excellance and celebrate it. We understand sacrifice for something greater. We empathize with defeat, we rejoice with triumph. For a small window of time. we can actually focus on what unites us, instead of what divides us.

For me, the Olympics are about hope.
And some kick-butt athletics!