By CharLy Markwart
There are very few things in this world that hold the power to send chills up the spine.
For some, an extraordinary musical performance can do it, or maybe a breathtaking panorama of natural scenery. For me, personally, though, it’s the sight of true human unity that never fails to induce those chills that, for one elusive moment in time, let me know I am truly alive. And, I don’t think there’s a better example anywhere of that kind of real, rare and genuine harmony of which I write than at the Olympics.
Like most of us, I’ve watched several Olympic opening ceremonies throughout my lifetime. Still, no matter how many I’ve seen, those special events never seem to lose their ability to captivate my heart and mind and inspire my soul to see and believe in the very best that humanity has to offer. Luckily, this year was no different.
Last week, as the crowd at Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium enthusiastically welcomed elite athletes from every corner of the globe, I couldn’t deny the feeling of marvel and pride that deepened inside of me with each new flag that joined the scene. As those varied flags, and the diverse group of athletes behind them took their places in the stadium, they came together once again to form an awe-inspiring tapestry, that magnificent quilt of nations that can only be seen in one piece at the Olympics.
I’ve come to see that the Olympics, like no other event, remind us all that we really are just one world. While we allow invisible lines of bound and border and the much harsher barriers of prejudice, injustice and hatred to divide us throughout the rest of the year, each time the Olympics roll around again, we become, for two glorious weeks, a people united. For that much-too-small window of time, we aren’t defined as third-world or developed, impoverished or affluent, communist or capitalist. We aren’t alienated by religion, skin tone or language. No; somehow, miraculously, the simple idea of sport at its highest level brings us together in one accord, allowing us to see the striking truth in that classic Disney song that tells us, “It’s a small world after all.”
Sure, we all cheer loudly from our living rooms for the athletes of our own countries to bring home the gold. But still, we know that the Olympics transcend medals and victory. On this year’s opening night of competition, for example, while we Americans passionately cheered speedskater Apolo Ohno on in his pursuit of a sixth Olympic medal, didn’t we sympathize just as deeply with the South Korean skaters whose last-lap crash opened the door for Ohno’s second-place finish? Don’t we pull equally hard for figure skaters of China, Russia, Canada and the United States to perform at their very best, because we know that’s what they’ve all worked for years to achieve? And, on a more tragic note, didn’t we all unite in brotherly compassion for the young Georgian luger who lost his life just before the Olympic ceremonies began?
Maybe it’s because, at the Olympics, it’s not our differences that are highlighted, but our similarities. We might not be able to understand the words of the Slovakian cross country skier competing in his first Olympics, but we can surely identify with that feeling of agony on his face as he comes to the finish line mere inches behind his first-place competitor. We probably can’t relate to the culture of the Swiss bobsledders racing their way down the track, but we can certainly comprehend their expression of pure elation as they claim the gold.
Sport truly is a universal language, and in the Olympic broadcast each night, we see that universality played out, live and in color, on our television screens. As we watch, it’s hard to ignore the fact that, while they wear different colors and represent different flags, the athletes in front of us are all the same. They’re all just human beings, questing after personal victory and reaching, striving and aspiring to fulfill their potential. Aspiring, just like all of us, to be the very best they can be.
And I guess that is what the Olympics represent to me. The idea that we really are one world, not intended to be weakened by the divisive lines of difference, but rather to be strengthened by the uniting bond of harmony.
Next weekend, the 2010 Olympic ceremonies will come to a close, and we will all return to our own secluded corners of the globe. Sadly, we will once again be a world divided by the foolish partitions that continue to lead us to hatred, degradation and war. But, wouldn’t it be wonderful, awesome even, if this time, we could take just a little bit of the Olympic spirit away with us? If we could just remember for the next two years how fantastic it is to be one, maybe we could go into the 2012 Summer Olympics as a world a bit closer to being the united whole it has always been intended to be.
And that, I dare say, would be an effort truly worthy of Olympic gold.
CharLy Markwart is a Princeton Times reporter. Contact her at cmarkwart@ptonline.net.
