Friday, August 8, 2008

The Artistry, the spectacle . . .

WOW, WOW, WOW . . . absolutely breathtaking, beautiful and spectacular! Words can't even come close to describing how unbelievable the opening ceremonies were tonight - I was speechless. If you missed the production of a lifetime, make every effort to find someone who has it on tivo (that way you can skip the two-hour plus "march of nations" - just pause long enough for Nadal and Federer ;-), I promise you won't be disappointed.

Now I'm even more excited to don my official olympic t-shirt my brother-in-law brought back from Beijing a couple of weeks ago. Oh, and the kids now think their pins are REALLY cool. Thanks Bryan :-).

We love the Olympics!

1 comment:

Julie said...

This post has bothered me since I put it on the blog. I thought of erasing it, but hope that this comment will finally help me resolve my conflicting feelings during the 2008 summer games.

I watched the games with mixed emotions - the beauty, strength, and fitness of the athletes truly inspires me of what the human body is capable of accomplishing, and the competition is always thrilling. However, I kept asking myself "at what cost and sacrifice did the people of China endure to make these games happen?"

The ceremonies were artistic and beautiful, but really, something like that could ONLY happen in a totalitarian state - a one party system that rules with an iron fist. I didn't want to sound like a downer on this post, so I just looked at the beauty of the games and tried to forget the ugly underbelly. But I can't seem to get it out of my mind. My heart aches for the thousands of Chinese who suffered to satisfy the demands of the government.

By the end of the games, I felt sick, I felt guilty enjoying something that came at such a cost to so many innocent people, and I almost feel ashamed that I posted such an entry on this blog.

Hopefully, some of my readers will see this comment and understand. I tried to see the splendor of it at first, but it's too hard to ignore the hard reality of what sacrifice these games were to so many Chinese.