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?
