A Fierce Determination

Saturday morning, the day following the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Russia, I received an email from a friend which said, “All I kept thinking about was the kind of money it takes to produce the Olympic Games and what that money could do to feed and heal the world.”

Right back at her I wrote, “I couldn’t agree with you more.”

It’s not about the athletes. They are extraordinarily talented and committed young people. Each has worked for years with a fierce dedication in order to achieve a place in the games, to represent his or her country. I know a bit about this dedication vicariously as we have a gold medal winner in our extended family and for several years my youngest son was an NBC producer for the Olympic games. Just hearing the stories about the training schedules of these young athletes, the injuries sustained and the fresh determination demonstrated, fills me with awe.

 Thinking of what they have suffered, strained toward and accomplished, I weep when—particularly American kids---win, when they stand erect, blazing with happiness while the national anthem plays.

But . . . all the rest? The media hype, the product advertising, the building of enormous facilities, the send-off fireworks alone—all of the wildly extravagant expense. It gives me pause. I can’t help it.

Could there be some other way? Or even better, could we match the same depth of commitment that we demonstrate to young athletes in the production of the Olympic games, and join together as a world in a commensurate and equally heart-felt determination to assure that no child in our world goes to bed hungry?

Imagine it. Please imagine it. Seemingly impossible dreams always begin in the imagination. Ask any Olympic champion.