Let The Games Begin!!

I LOVE the Olympics!  This is one of my favorite times of every other year.  I think I skipped two straight weeks of classes during the last winter Olympics.  Just kidding, Mom.  Yep, I didn’t skip anything…

Anyway, last night’s opening ceremony was amazing!  The performances were brilliant, and as always, the march of athletes was simply breathtaking.  Today, I have been watching since I woke up.  It’s kind of funny how I can enjoy watching sports I really know nothing about (badminton, fencing, rowing, etc).  But I have found that even more special than the competitions are the medal ceremonies and the raising of the flags to the national anthems.  Those are the moments that seem to define the Games.  I just watched the first medal ceremony in Beijing involving Americans.  The U.S. swept all three in women’s fencing today.  But as I watched the flags go up, I had a very different experience than I have before.

Instead of feeling national pride like I usually do when they raise the American flag and play the Star Spangled Banner, I felt a little bit of “world pride”.  There was a sense of excitement at how people from around the world not only engage in friendly competition, but then honor their fellow athletes – even from “enemy” nations – as they rejoice in their victories.  That people from around the world still stand and honor the American athletes for the heart and determination it took to get them to such a global stage, even if they don’t agree with the country’s politics, is an incredible picture of the greater meaning of the Olympic games.

Yes, the competitions between the world’s greatest athletes are often exhilarating.  Yes, the country medal count is exciting to follow.  But the Olympics are not about the games.  They are about the peaceful relationships that transcend the competitions.  And at a time when it seems much of the world is in the midst of great conflict, the Olympics are such a beautiful oasis of peace and friendship across those lines.  It is an event that sparks a great sense of global pride.  There is bad in all of us, that is to be certain from looking at the state of the world.  Yet events like the Olympics, while not perfect, prove to me that there is great good in all of us as well.  I don’t know how anyone could be a part of something like last night’s opening ceremony and not get goosebumps.

There is a great commercial series on during this Olympic season.  Visa has some ads following the Olympic paths of some athletes with a common theme of “Go World”.  That is the feeling I get while watching these Beijing Games.  While I am definitely rooting for America and some specific athletes, I am pulling even more for Beijing 2008 to spark movements of peace and reconciliation around the world.  We pray for peace all the time.  Let’s take time these next few weeks to celebrate one of the greatest enduring expressions of that search for peace.  Go World!