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By Kathy Michaels
When my co-workers and I filed into the office this morning, the first order of business was to turn on the telly so we could watch the Vancouver portion of the torch run.
The sports reporter to my right stared up at the screen as tears welled up in his eyes.
“It’s a celebration b*tches,” Misty said.
“Only for some,” retorted Politics Wonk to my left.
We followed up that heart-warming exchange with an office pool on who will run the final leg of the event.
Misty has his money on Terry Fox’s mother Betty, another co-worker says it’s going to be a hologram version of Terry Fox, and there’s also money on Sam Sullivan.
Me? I say Michael J. Fox.
Could there be anyone better? Not only is he from B.C., but there’s nobody as protester-proof as Family Ties’ Alex P. Keaton. Would anyone approve of dumping Olympic hatred on him?
While it’s Fox’s teflon character that makes him my torch-bearing front runner, it’s actually the conflict I find most appealing about this Coca-Cola-infused festival of happiness.
Flag-waving sports lovers may say anti-Olympic protesters are a grumpy gaggle of whiners intent on spoiling other Canadians’ fun — not sure I disagree entirely today — but the conversations I’ve been privy to in the months leading to today are entertaining, stimulating and entirely necessary.
There’s been more than one occasion when a red-faced friend has spouted off about the Zeus-sized waste of money this Olympic endeavour will be. My teacher and health-care working friends who are wondering if they’re going to get their walking papers when the Olympic bill comes in and the budget cuts go deeper are definitely on that side of the argument. And one can’t forget the artists who are watching in horror as funding pulled from their coffers gets diverted to tacky commercial endeavors that will be appreciated only as long as the sporting bonanza continues.
But their enthusiasm pales in comparison to those Mt. Olympus lovers who have been blinded by golden delusions.
To them, this is simply a matter of national pride, a chance to rally the spirits of a recession-weary nation and, most importantly, kick a little American butt on home ice.
Wherever one stands, the best part is that this Olympics is actually causing a province of previously apathetic residents to sit up and look critically at the world around them.
It’s fitting that the games are spurring self reflection, really.
Say what you will about the commercial nature of the Games we have today, but pre Coca-Cola, its roots are with the Greeks and as Alfred Whitehead once noted, ‘Western philosophy is just a series of footnotes to Plato. “
Tags: 2010 Olympics, Kelowna, michael j fox, Michael Keaton, torch run
