借文下雨-隨筆005-Post-Olympic spirit-by 綠豆紅茶

I was not excited about the 2008 Olympics when it started.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy watching sports, and I did check out the game schedule a week before August 8. My lack of passion has a lot to do with the year 2008. It started with several pretty bad snow storms, followed by a seemingly endless array of natural, social and political disasters. Many of us were chained to an emotional roller coaster, where the feelings of sadness, confusion, anger, shock, grief, depression and helplessness kept hitting hard. By the month of July I was pretty much overwhelmed, and all I wanted was a vacation, a mental retreat, a hiding place far away from strong emotions, heated debates and fierce accusations. Our country has gone through a lot, why can’t we all just get along?

Then the Olympics started, as planned.

I’ve paid a lot of attention to the Olympics ever since high school. After all, where else could you find such unique entertainment that comes only once in four years. As for this year, it provides me a perfect opportunity to kick back and relax. That’s right; to me this event hardly means anything more than “a collection of games”.

But once again, I found myself unprepared.

I was amazed when 33 year old gymnast and 41 year old swimmer challenged their physical limits and won silver medals, years after they became mothers. I watched with astonishment that someone actually swam 10 kilometers with only one leg. I was touched by the heart-warming gestures of friendship and generosity displayed by many athletes, such as Li Ning, who made a donation to Chusovitina in the hope that her son does not have to fight leukemia any more; and Usain Bolt, who took money out of his own pocket to help children suffering from Sichuan earthquake. I cried when I saw Mr. Steiner from Germany wiping off his tears and kissing his (late) wife’s photo on the medal podium. I laughed watching Mary from NBC taking Kong Fu lessons at the Shao Lin temple. I was happy that the audience were cheering for every great performance and fighting spirit, regardless the athlete’s nationality. I was delighted to see (Jenny) Lang Ping and Luan Ju Jie again, and people were greeting them with an open heart despite the fact that they were not representing the Chinese teams. I enjoyed watching women’s marathon and visualize the ever changing landscape of Beijing. I loved taking a virtual tour of the great wall with cyclists worldwide even if it was raining cats and dogs.

Then it was the closing ceremony.

After athletes from different countries rushed into the stadium from all directions, I felt like a party was about to begin. But all too soon this cheerful atmosphere gave way to the sad reality that it is time to say good bye. Then there was a commercial break from NBC, which happened all too often during the past two weeks. It was for visa, and Morgan Freeman’s familiar voice arose from the background:

“There are six billions of us. We do not always agree…But for a few shining weeks, we put aside what makes us different, and hold on to what makes us—the same.”

I saw this commercial before, maybe once or twice. I remembered being cynical, “Who are you kidding? Russia and Georgia are at war right now.”

But that night it struck me. What is this Olympic spirit everybody keeps talking about? Why most countries take the trouble of coming to this “collection of games”? Apart from great athletic achievement, what lingers in people’s mind? I suddenly realized that with all the conflicts going on in this world, there is love, friendship, tolerance and respect. There is trying your best without worrying about losing your face. There is helping fellow human beings because we are all human beings. These are the things that we are so desperately trying to hold on to. These are the things that may change the world for the better, little by little.

So the moment when all events came to an end, I wished they could last a little bit longer. I wished that in this chaotic world filled with all sorts of negativities, we could take a break once in a while, hopefully more frequently than 16 days in every 4 years.

Is that too much to ask?

****************************
歌兒按：昨天晚上家裏的網絡出了問題，所以沒能下雨，但估計大家周一上班都忙，晚上再來淋雨也是一樣的。:)

這篇看完了我眼睛濕了，所以提前發個警告，經常掉爛豆子的姐妹們請自帶紙巾。:)

[南山鬆]

回複老史的評論:
慚愧呀!
覺得worldling和我就是更厲害.

[老史]

回複綠豆紅茶的評論:
嘿嘿，想迷惑我們不是那麽容易滴，罰你給我們每人來碗紅茶喝：）

鬆真是名不虛傳的擂台台主！：）

[warmginger]

這篇連跟風都沒跟上！但是不影響看好文章！覺得歌友會的JM們都是可親可愛的人！

[綠豆紅茶]

親愛的們，
我這回攪混水徹底失敗了，群眾的眼睛果然是雪亮的 :)
bbb~, 采訪Johnson的這期節目我也聽說了。想想當運動員可真不容易，總免不了要評論自己不想評論的事兒。

[綠豆紅茶]

回複longhair的評論:
沒問題，你喜歡拿去就好 :)

[longhair]

回複綠豆紅茶的評論:
看到你跟我探討我們看不看NBC的時候,就覺得應該是你了,可惜沒有跟風該猜你..我又開始向錯誤的道路上走了. :(

MM,可以轉你這篇去我的園子嗎?寫的幾乎都是我想說的. :)

[歌兒]

嗯，是錐子總要從麻袋裏鑽出來的，紅茶，你暴露了！:)
牛蛙博士，餅妹，bbb~, 看海MM, 水牛，牛油果，人人有獎！:)

[唐朝遊牧人]

我跟誰的風好呢？就紅茶吧 :)

[bbb~]

紅茶！看了一小段我就鎖定紅茶了：）

我也看了不少奧運，熬了不少夜，看體操男團那晚上熬得，隻好第二天請假。VISA好些廣告都挺酷。也喜歡MARY做的中國專題係列。紅茶描述的那些感動和心動也都讓我感動和心動。Bob Costas 的closing remarks 說得鏗鏘有力，雖然內容有點空洞無物，但抑揚頓挫的英文讓我聽了好幾遍。

不過我到底還是掉回beign cynical去了，大概是太老了：）

Jay Leno的秀邀請Shawn Johnson做客，當被問到中國體操運動員是否年齡不足時，Shawn Johnson說，“I hope they are playing by the rules, but I believe whatever the truth is, it's not their decision." 這個小丫頭真是愛死人了：）

[想去看海]

紅茶，寫得真棒，喝個彩！

周末旅行回來，繼續補課中。

[靜謐海灣]

i was astonished to read this article. it is very nice and touching. - zt

Follow W MM:

最後鎖定紅茶 -zt

[歌兒]

嗬嗬，剛明白牛蛙博士那個a little worried是為了我啊，這次該我一塌糊塗了，感動的。:)

昨天晚上我努力奮戰了半天想把這篇貼出來，本來也想盼著別人猜我的，但後來想想怪不好意思的，再說大家也知道我不愛看體育的，就是冒充也冒充不了，所以就直接告訴大家準備紙巾了。

[worldling]

紅茶：糊塗了也不能怪你，"Girl"和"girl"的區別太不容易引起注意了：）你不是剛分了咱一個布蠟窩的嗎？我是看見歌兒那天說了句老哥怎麽著，然後就消失了一天，今天要是也不更新，還真想問問哪：）

謝謝幾位撒大網的妹妹的錯----愛，這回聽我的沒錯。一是我寫不那麽好，二來我對奧運也沒那麽大興趣（要不怎麽會才認識飛魚呢？）。我最開始懷疑過暖薑，後來是歌兒，最後鎖定紅茶--一切都很MAKE　SENSE：）

[歌兒]

呀！三豐子的駝羊太可愛了，猛一看還以為是你家小貓呢！:)

大家今天猜的很踴躍啊，我要不要公布答案呢？那幾個multiple choice的人，趕快抓緊時間鎖定最終答案吧，否則就算有對的也不給分的。:)

[三豐子]

寫得真不錯。熱烈鼓掌。

[綠豆紅茶]

回複老鍋餅的評論:
多謝，多謝，每次看到你就開心，嗬嗬。

[老鍋餅]

回複綠豆紅茶的評論:紅茶姐姐，什麽時候再能看到你那舊事的續集啊
我也惦記你啊！仰視

[綠豆紅茶]

回複longhair的評論:
原來如此，這末說在加拿大的姐妹們也不能被排除嘍？

[綠豆紅茶]

回複worldling的評論:
多謝惦記，感動得俺一塌糊塗，嗬嗬。

[longhair]

回複綠豆紅茶的評論:
其實我看NBC多,除了解說員的話實在是太偏袒的時候,因為CBC通常隻轉有加拿大比賽的部分.

[longhair]

hairycat. (MM,我可以ZT到自家園子裏嗎?)

多謝愛讀的厚愛,你猜我肯定是因為做了功課..這篇裏有很多東西的確跟我的感受一致,這就是文字的好處(歌兒語),我又可以偷懶了.

[綠豆紅茶]

回複Liketoread的評論:
長發姐很可能收看CBC, 不看NBC，嗬嗬。
為什末沒人猜暖薑？

[南山鬆]

回複阿貝的評論:
好!
要錯大家一起錯.有人作伴,就不害怕.;)

[阿貝]

好文章，感動！
跟探長南山鬆風：紅茶，worldling,hairycat,longhair.　：）

[mycereal]

本來猜不出來的，但南山鬆給的提示很多。我選一個吧，hairycat.

[Liketoread]

Longhair!!!!!

[南山鬆]

回複老史的評論:
謝謝信任.
萬一錯了,可別後悔呀!

[老史]

跟著南山鬆，保準沒錯：）

紅茶，worldling,hairycat,longhair.　：）

[南山鬆]

是紅茶嗎?
再加幾個可疑人物:
worldling,hairycat,longhair.

[我就是]

i was astonished to read this article. it is very nice and touching.
show up ----dear red tea sister!

[worldling]

Bravo! Bravo! Dear Hongcha!

p.s. Glad to see you show up again, Girl. I was a little worried :)

[Liketoread]

SF.

一會兒來讀。