Olympians all…

The Olympics are always a major TV event.  Did you watch the Winter Games?  This year things seemed a bit different.  Maybe it was Covid; maybe the absence of fans; maybe those damn Russians.  Has the purpose of the Olympics morphed? 

Originally the Games were a religious event honoring the Greek Gods: 

In the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, the Twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon, commonly considered to be Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus.  Hades and Persephone were sometimes included as part of the twelve Olympians (primarily due to the influence of the Eleusinian Mysteries), although in general Hades was excluded, because he resided permanently in the underworld and never visited Olympus. 

                   Wikipedia 

I didn’t know that.  Back to Wikipedia: 

The Olympic Games (Ancient Greek: Ὀλύμπια Olympia, "the Olympics") were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states … They were held in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin. The first Olympics is traditionally dated to 776 BC. 

That’s 2,798 years and counting! 

My favorite Olympic moment actually comes from a previous Games: 

Let your imagination put you in a grandstand at the Seattle version of the Special Olympics.  There are nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash.  At the gun, they all start out, not exactly in a dash, but with relish to run the race to the finish and win.  All, that is, except one boy who stumbles on the asphalt, tumbles over a couple of times, and begins to cry.  The other eight hear the boy cry.  They slow down and look back.  They all turn around and go back… every one of them.  As you watch, one girl with Down’s Syndrome bends down and kisses him.  You hear her say, “This will make it better.”  All nine link arms and walk across the finish line together.  Everyone in the stadium, including you, stands up, and the cheering goes on for several minutes.  People who were actually there are still telling the story, four years later.  Why?  Because deep down we know this one thing:  What matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means changing our own course.  

David S. Pottruck 

Olympians are not limited to Olympic Games.  For many of us, “changing our own daily course” requires an Olympian effort. 

For many of us, each day we must set our mind for victory to avoid defeat: 

If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don’t.

If you like to win, but you think you can’t,

It is almost certain you won’t.

 

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,

For out in the world we find,

Success begins with a fellow’s will –

It’s all in the state of mind.

 

If you think you are outclassed, you are,

You’ve got to think high to rise,

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

 

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But soon or later that man who wins

Is the man who thinks he can.  

Unknown Sage 

The Olympics will continue but for most rest of us… we will rise tomorrow; set our mind for our daily demands; thinking - BELIEVING - “we can”!   

Not something I call “Games”.  

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.