My first real memory of the Olympics was watching the torch
run past me. I didnt understand it really, other than the fact it had come very
far and that it all had something to do with M&M's . Years later I would
reach back into my own memory and be touched by the fact that I had seen with
my own eyes a symbol of the games. As I grew and learned more about what the
games represented, or what they should represent anyway, I loved them more and
more.
The idea that all the peoples of Earth could join together in weeks of
sport, that representatives from warring nations could compete side by side in
peace, it gave me hope. Heck, it still gives me hope today! This year, yet
another Olympic mile stone was passed. For the first time in Olympic history
there was a woman competing from every nation. In a time when it seems that
even in this country the rights of woman are in retrograde, there walked in
pony tails, head scarves and full of pride the woman of the world. And of
course I cried like a wee baba. Some of these woman faced death threats, taunts
of "Prostitute" or "Whore",
but still they walked with strength and pride giving hope to some little girl,
who maybe doesn't understand the Olympics yet but will one day look back and
know she was there!
Still riding the emotional wave of the games, I was also
getting amped for the latest endeavor from our good friends at NASA. Being an
avid fan of not only science fiction, but also of science fact, I have had my
ear on this as long as they have been planning it. I jumped at the chance to
send my kids names up with the rover in October of last year, and was totally
bummed when the launce was delayed. But then it was happening, really and
truly. I dragged the kids along with me to a seminar on the rover itself and
the upcoming launce where we got to put hands on the material that would be
used to land the rover and let me tell you, if you think it looked flimsy on
film I am still amazed that stuff worked! Then, when the time came, I sat in a dark,
sleepy house on my lonesome and waited.
If this mission failed it would be a huge disappointment and a waste of
ten years of hard work from NASA and JPL. And if it worked...
I had begun to doze when cheers of joy filled my head phones
and the simple black and white image showed up on my monitor. I may as well
have been there myself, I jumped up, clapped my hands, and cried . We, the
human race, had done it again. We had reached out into the stars and succeeded.
This past month I have been renewed with hope for this human
race. While the world seems on the verge of erupting into some crazy
socioeconomic cluster fuck there are still those striving ever to improve what
we are, who we are, and what it means to be human. We are strong, we challenge ourselves to be
better, faster, stronger, to move forward and explore the unexplored, to learn
more everyday and to understand ourselves and this beautiful planet better than we did
yesterday.
Can we overcome our differences? Can we be strong despite our weaknesses? Can
we work as one to achieve the greatness humanity has the potential for? I have
hope that the answer is yes. As long as there are those risking it all to be
the first we have hope.
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