I love watching the Olympics every 2 years--summer or winter--I love them both. As the old ABC Wide World of Sports opening montage put it so iconicly: "The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the human drama of athletic competition." I love the stories behind the competition--how people got to the games, those who started skiing at age 3 and those that never even played their sport until adulthood.
I love the pride that both the athletes have in their countries. I love to see athletes genuinely happy for their fellow competitors--even when they lose to them. I am most moved, when I watch an athlete be overwhelmed by the playing of their national anthem as they stand on the top of the podium with a medal on their neck. I have seem grown men cry and it moves me.
Anyone who knows me knows that I have little but disdain for events which are won or lost by judges--give me a sport where the winner goes fastest, flies further, or scores the most objective points in hockey or curling. I don't deny the skill or athleticism required in figure skating or free-style skiing, but just don't expect me to consider it a 'real' sport. Of course, I save my deepest athletic snobbery for figure skating. Any sport that has a "Kiss and Cry" area cannot be a real sport. I could go on, but why?
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Who's afraid of Christmas Part 2
While in Germany last year, I was pleasantly surprised to see a nativity scene right in the main train station. I saw an even larger one in the main city square. My heart soared with joy to see that, as I saw it then, 'even while Americans are afraid of the nativity, the Germans aren't! Good for them!'
It was only later when I was journaling for the day that I realized that they were comfortable with the Nativity because, for then, it was merely a decoration--a traditional thing you set out for Christmas. Maybe a few old people would pause to reflect, but the rest would either rush by with indifference or compare the style and design to the one they grew up with somewhere else. No one would have their lives changed by realizing that the Son of God was born as a man to save men.
It was only later when I was journaling for the day that I realized that they were comfortable with the Nativity because, for then, it was merely a decoration--a traditional thing you set out for Christmas. Maybe a few old people would pause to reflect, but the rest would either rush by with indifference or compare the style and design to the one they grew up with somewhere else. No one would have their lives changed by realizing that the Son of God was born as a man to save men.
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