The athletes came together in a friendly competition during a pandemic this year.
Even though my family and I are vaccinated, we still avoid crowded spaces, wear masks in public, and pretty much treat everybody like they have cooties and we stick in our safety bubble.
Television keeps us connected.
Sure, I enjoy brain candy. I can’t seem to get enough American Horror Story. I’ve watched enough news. That’s depressing and scary most of the time.
I needed a break from the norm, so I watched the Olympics.
Yes, I generally cheer for USA, but I also root for the underdogs, for the athletes who are the first or only person representing a country.
I hate to shine a light on my ignorance, but during the opening ceremonies there were some countries I never heard of. Yes, I cheered for them.
No matter what country win the gold, all the winners were so excited and I was thrilled for them. What I found was that some people won medals which weren’t gold and the people weren’t especially gracious about it.
I know they tried hard, but to me a medal is a medal.
I think of the woman Iranian single scull racer, Nazanin Malaei. She comes from a desert country yet she raced in a water sport. I cheered for her. I wanted her to medal. She didn’t, but maybe next time. I don’t begrudge the medalists at all. It was a fair race.
I clapped for those people from different countries because even though we live very different lives, speak different languages we are still humans and I wanted to celebrate different faces - laugh, smile, cry without politics involved.
It was wonderful and I’m sorry that I now have to wait for the next Olympics.
Ps - while I still think golf is incredibly boring to watch, who knew that ping pong was so riveting? Not me.
