[700 word essay]

I have felt and thought since I was a little kid that The Olympic Games is the best thing we do. We, meaning the human race, as a species, as a people. That has only been affirmed and reaffirmed as the Olympiads have breezed by, but never so intensely as this time around. I was a person with reservations and concerns about these Olympics being held in Beijing because of China’s deplorable record of human rights abuses. Before I say anything else, I will say that nothing mitigates my feelings or thoughts on that matter, nothing, regardless of where these transgressions occur, or when, or ‘why’ (as if damaging a life were excusable), or any other particular. But I am now glad the Olympics were held there. I want to think that this outstanding effort to be a gracious host was earnest and honest in its greater meanings. The messages in Opening Ceremonies were an amazing surprise to me, and I’m happy to place faith in them and look with hope toward the future of China. My arms are folded; there is a streak of wariness, but it’s been well tempered in the last 17 days.

I haven’t watched a Closing Ceremonies for a long time. The last time, sometime as a kid, I was so grieved the games were ending that I cried. I ached for the next ones like I’d gotten my heart broken. I figured in the future, it'd be best to just let the whole thing fizzle off toward the end there. Well, I’ve changed that policy. I watched them tonight and I’m so glad I did. For one thing, as a person who doesn’t want or need to stand much on ceremony myself, I am a huge sucker for it. In the right contexts, I love glitzy pomp and circumstance and traditions being passed on in practice, I love being moved by all that stuff. Second of all, I discovered I like the bookend, the closure. I don’t mind being sad in this way so much anymore (especially now that the Winter Games are split out and I only have to wait two years for my fix now). And I’m glad I got a good bye from Beijing. People parting need a chance to say and hear good bye to and from each other. It’s bittersweet, but you know, I’m a sucker for bittersweet as well.

I first came to feel and understand love for my country via the Olympic Games, and I still feel it in the purest way in that context, hearing my National Anthem played for an American on the world stage. As soon as I understood that, I understood it for the whole world, for each nation and each person in that nation. I love our sporting triumph first and best, my heart is always with the United States of America, but I love your sporting triumph too, Brazil, Russia, Kenya, Turkey, The Netherlands, Iran, wherever on Earth you are. I love celebrating with the world, I love celebrating my country, I love the Olympics and the incredible power it has to bring us together and remind us of what is truly important, writ large enough for the whole planet to see and feel at once. It is light years of magnitude greater than the sum of its parts. It’s our World Spirit.

I fantasized when I was a kid, that amongst planets, the flag raised for Earth and whose image would mean “Earth” to the rest of the Universe, would be the Olympic Flag, because it is us at our pinnacle, our absolute best, it stands for something we all really love and can all truly believe in, as a planet. I’m finding I still indulge that thought once in a while.

Earth, as seen by Voyager 1 at a distance of 4 billion miles (Image from JPL/NASA).

I love this little planet and all the people on it, and I want the very best for every one of us.  I'm looking forward to London and the 30th Olympiad!

C.T.Thatch

copyright 2011