An Olympic idea

I haven’t watched much of the 2016 Summer Olympics on television even though I thoroughly enjoy sport; admire the dedication and commitment these athletes demonstrate to get to play on the world stage.
If I had to pick a favourite sport, that would be a tough decision, but the 100-metre sprint for both women and men is incredibly exciting, especially with Canada’s Andre de Grasse.
A whopping seven inches shorter than the brilliant Jamaican Usain Bolt, de Grasse is holding his own against the fastest man on Earth.
Women’s floor routine and vaulting in gymnastics has me scratching my head how some of those feats even are possible. Swimming, with the likes of our Penny Oleksiak, at the tender age of 16 showing us how it is done with pure grit and determination, makes the heart pound.
The pursuit of sport and the celebration thereof is, most times, a positive objective. But. . . .
The idea of fostering international relationships, of creating a venue to bring us closer to a global community rather than countries at odd with one another, is a noble quest. But that very notion seems at peril in the last several decades, or longer, where the homeless and impoverished, the disenfranchised, and marginalized are shuffled out of sight—discarded like annoying pests while we build monstrous facilities that all-too-soon will be left empty and to decay.
Corruption is whispered about, public accusations flung here and there in terms of building contracts, safety violations, and a whole load of not-so-good stuff.
This isn’t always the case, I realize, and there are circumstances of great purpose in the pursuit of gold, but nothing is ever that simple. A great ton of money is spent so a nation can pound on its chest and strut while it has forgotten, along with the rest of us, or never had a concern for human rights’ record during the years not considered Olympic ones.
That’s where my disappointment lies. “We’re going to do better” is a promise with far too many holes in it.
I’d like to see nations competing for the right to help those most limited within its borders. I’d like to see nations putting their best foot forward with ideas to provide education and opportunity for those beaten down by poverty and abuse.
Each country would form an Olympic committee to vie for the spot of world recognition as to how it will change the lives of those it has promised to protect. And we all would learn from these efforts so we could apply the same structures and techniques in our own country.
An example: a nursing home in the Netherlands offers rent-free accommodation to university students in exchange for 30 hours of service each month to assist the elderly residents—a win-win situation that fosters care and understanding for those on both sides of the equation.
We could have an Olympic movement for how to handle waste and how to encourage concern for the environment. We could do so much with the energy we now put into the opening ceremonies that are stunning—trying to outdo the previous ones so we can claim the right of being the biggest spectacle.
It may be crazy but it is just the thoughts that tumble through my mind at night when sleep won’t come; when I worry about those who have nothing, who have lost all hope, who have been forgotten.
wendistewart@live.ca