A message for you all

Imagine All the People, I Have a Dream, To Dream the Impossible Dream!

I would like to tell you a story…

When my son was starting grade school we were worried that he may not make friend and that he would not know how to interact with the other children. You see, he was the only child on the street we lived on, all the neighbors were elderly. So off he goes to kindergarten fueled with all the knowledge about how to play with new kids we could provide.

Several weeks into the school year he started talking about his friend Brandon. Brandon this and Brandon that was all we heard. A time goes by and my son asks if Brandon can come over and play. Being responsible parents, we decided to go to his class and meet Brandon. (We were big PTA people). So we enter the class and in the corner of the room, in the middle of all the cars and trucks and dinosaurs, were my son and Brandon.

Not a real exciting story, but now the insight. The school my son attended was 40% African American, 25% Hispanic, and the rest White with a percent or two of “other”. As a point of reference, my wife and I purposely did not allow prejudice talk in the house. We believe in “Mutual Respect” not “Social Tolerance”.

As the president of the PTA, I, along with my wife and a friend who was African American, re-divided the funds of the PTA to include all grades and inter-racial programming. Our best program was the House of Blues field trip. There was a house band who talked about the progression of the blues by the slaves in America, and a tour of the art that was created by some of the famous African American artist.

Now I say all this so that you know my intentions were true. When my son saw me and my wife, he ran over and pulled us to meet his friend Brandon who was African American. Now it did not phase me or my wife because we taught our son not to look at color, but at the person inside. It was at that moment though, that I realized a truth of life; it is inherited prejudice that procreates to our youth. Absent our prejudice, the children know no prejudice! Hatred is inherited, prejudice is inherited! We infect our children with old stereotypes and old generalization. We infect then with outmoded ideals and with our bent ego’s.

When I was a kid there was no mixing between Black and White and Hispanic and Oriental. But slowly over my life I have noticed more and more interracial cooperation in the young, and with every generation, the lines of race are blurred. We still have a long way to go but the seeds of success are waiting to be born. So don’t be too critical of the Olympics and the politics of sports or any other social arena. It is the prejudices of our forefathers that have been past down to us, that has created this epidemic.

ren wrote:

Sometimes we just have to put our problems aside and join together.

Only because they are forced to. No political statements are allowed at the olympics. Your peace and hope is artificially created.

I have to say I am agreeing more with Ren on this one. Its nice to dream and hope and strive for a better world and I am the same way Mark. However, I try to take a more realistic approach to things.

I enjoy the Olympics and I appreciate what they are supposed to represent and stand for. However, the modern Olympics, to me, seem forced as Ren suggested in the above quote. The peace is artificial. Its forced upon the nations. All the nations that compete in the Olympics are not there for the reasons that they are supposed to be there.

This, to me, is obvious by the diplomacy inherent in how the nations are organized into the opening processional and closing recessional. I try to avoid cynicism and seek realism, but when I see a Korea divided so hopelessly that the IOC must artificially separate them from each other I am forced to see beyond the facades and admit, as Ren seems to be doing, the truth that the peace is just that: a series of facades.

I would, personally, like to see the ban on political statements lifted. That would offer a true measure of how the athletes REALLY feel about their rival nations' athletes. Politics have been a part of the Olympic Games since they were actually Olympic and still are to this day.

I think its wonderful, Master Mark, that you see hope through the Olympics and I see hints of possible world peace in the games as well. However, I am leery of anything that seems to hint at forging one world government or one world culture, and that, to me, seems to be what this year's Olympic ceremonies seemed to reveal.

*Shrug* Its all wishful thinking until it actually happens, in my humble opinion.

Lykeios wrote: Politics have been a part of the Olympic Games since they were actually Olympic and still are to this day.

I dunno, I think the other way around is more accurate, like 'the Olympics have always been part of politics'.

Everything physical is divisible, so if we look close enough we'll find gaps in everything.... everything is forced. Really the question is what do you focus on and why. The opinion that the Olympics is fake is just focusing on one small negative part of it. Introducing political expression in to the games would serve no purpose to the conduct of international sporting competition that I can think of, but it would stop a lot of countries participating I guess!!

I would, personally, like to see the ban on political statements lifted. That would offer a true measure of how the athletes REALLY feel about their rival nations' athletes.

But if they did that, the Olympics would become just like the real world: not enjoyable, media/pr/history-writing being miles away from the truth, boycotts, vetoes, embargoes, one group forcing its views on another... And imagine if something like the CIA got involved! plots, coups, financing terrorist organizations, questionable human experiments, assassinations...

http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/9a/c6/bb/z12306074Q,Przedstawia-ono-jego-i-srebrnego-medaliste--Iranczyka.jpg

ren wrote: There is no such thing as friendly competition, only rules and regulations to prevent it from being bloodshed.

Infact it's the complete oposite. I entered the national kyu grade (below black belt) championship for my karate association. It was most definetly friendly, I even waved over and gave a smile to the guy that I was about to fight. He went on to next round to recive a leg injury. So there was bloodshed. This means that as soon as people realise there needs to be a level of respect for their opponent, they are alot more carefull about many things; Truth, Charecter, effort, Ettiquete and also patience.

Also, thankyou for this post mark. Just before the games ended (which I didn't watch btw) I felt a sense that we have a blessed country, far aside from the eastern religeos "blessings" of things that are very popular nowadays

Toastie, I has bookmarked that very picture to post here so thank you for doing it first! That picture speaks volumes for me - that it's usually not the people that are at war but the politicians in charge.

no problem Mark, always a pleasure to help
and I totally agree.

ren wrote:

I would, personally, like to see the ban on political statements lifted. That would offer a true measure of how the athletes REALLY feel about their rival nations' athletes.

But if they did that, the Olympics would become just like the real world: not enjoyable, media/pr/history-writing being miles away from the truth, boycotts, vetoes, embargoes, one group forcing its views on another... And imagine if something like the CIA got involved! plots, coups, financing terrorist organizations, questionable human experiments, assassinations...

Which is exactly why our current form of global society is doomed to fail. The Greeks did very well at keeping the peace during their Olympic Games without excluding politics. Why is it that we can't do the same?

Thanks for sharing that picture!

Not to be contrary here or ruin the beauty of that moment, but that could be taken as (or, more likely, twisted by the media into) a political statement in itself depending on one's perspective.

Even if the statement is one of peace people are still going to take it in a political sense and I wouldn't be surprised if its used by both nations represented by those athletes in their diplomatic efforts with each other. Politics (or, to put it more plainly, competition) is, and probably always will be, ubiquitous amongst human beings. Its in our nature.

To go even further, I would say its "coded" in our DNA. Sure, a select few (we Jedi, for example) may transcend these competitive hierarchical systems, but I don't think that Homo sapiens will be able to do so on the whole. The way I see it either we will destroy ourselves so wholly that we are forced back into tribal societies or we will evolve into an entirely new species before we are able to have "global peace" or "world peace."

From my own sociological perspective I don't believe that human beings, as we are now, are capable of attaining world peace. Nor, in my opinion, are we meant to attain such a goal. (At least not in the way Master Mark and countless others seem to be envisioning it.)