As I’m writing this, the 2016 Rio Olympics are wrapping up their opening ceremony, and by the time this article goes up, we’ll be midway through the events. For me, that’s very exciting. I’ve always loved watching the Olympics, both for the international grandeur and brief spotlight on otherwise neglected sports. For others, perhaps the next two weeks are just an annoying obsession any time they flip to NBC. Regardless of your past interest, however, I implore you — please watch the Olympics this year.
Sometimes (all the time?) these days, it feels like the world is quickly going madder and madder. Every hour, there seems to be a terrorist attack, a shooting, a riot, an international crisis, the list goes on and on. In the U.S. alone, I can’t go through a day without seeing brand new instances of bigotry, corruption, violence and division. It’s in the streets, in the newspapers, on the internet, on our televisions. But right now, for a very small window, there’s something else on our television, and in the midst of all the chaos, it’s something we desperately need.
I feel like leading up to the Olympics, most of what I heard was very negative sentiments. The Zika virus was running rampant, the water was contaminated, the whole enterprise was built on terrible labor practices, that sort of thing.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you those sorts of things are false, or that the enterprise is perfect. But I think that looking at the Olympics in this way reflects how the past two years especially have caused us to look at the world. We are so conditioned to see all the wrong and the hurt and the despair, that going into Rio we saw only that.
Let me tell for just a second, though, what else I see in Rio. I see a world that is supposed to be divided coming together in friendliness and support to lift each other up. I see foreign nations sharing stories of joy and triumph, where before my limited experience had attributed only fear and danger. I see an incredible team of athletes from my country, as diverse in talent as they are in origin, uniting under a flag that’s supposed to stand for one principle above all: freedom and acceptance for all those who stand beneath it.
Now you’re laughing because I’m just feeding you the same buzzword-infused Katy-Perry-theme-songed rhetoric NBC is, right? Except this isn’t an election. This isn’t a war or a social movement. This is a proud celebration of people, people from everywhere, striving for unity and love over division and hate.
That’s not a political statement. It’s a human statement. It’s the kind of the thing that we should all be able to get behind, as a nation and as part of a global community. Because in the midst of what feels like so much bad, we need to be reminded that the earth is still full of good people doing incredible things, and that it’s those people, not the ones who hate or the ones who kill, who matter. It’s their voices, our voices, that will drown out the turmoil if we lift them high enough.
So I really don’t care if you give a hoot about tennis, or if you know how to swim. I don’t care if gymnastics looks boring or if you don’t know the rules of fencing. I am asking you, pleading with you, to watch the Olympics this year. Help the world celebrate something good for a change. It’s a powerful thing.
