8/13/2008
I watched last night as the US Women’s Gymnastics program worked hard for, but felt short of, their dream for olympic gold. I went to bed disappointed. “Close, but no cigar,” as we used to say before smoking became so passé.
But today as I think more on what I saw, I realize that the young ladies who represented the United States of America were the real winners of last night’s contest.
Think on their commitment to their sport, the sacrifices they and their families have made for them to become some of the best in the world. These young ladies chose their path, they pursued their goals, and suffered hugely along the way.
Do most oeven know the sacrifices made to compete at this level? Leaving one’s family, leaving friends, watching every calorie taken in (unless you’re Michael Phelps), dealing with aches, blisters, broken bones, sprains, constant falls, and the fear that one little injury could ruin years of the intense labor
It’s a life of constant dedication, stress, and unending discipline. And while the same could be said about the Chinese gymnastics team, their dedication is wholly different in both origin and makeup.
The Romanian women’s gymnastic team came in third last night, but in past decades they dominated this sport. Last night, while the NBC commentators were reviewing the Romanian efforts they commented on their “fall” from dominance. One commentator mentioned, somewhat sadly, that the Romanian “fall” from dominance was because they had become “Westernized.”
In other words, free!
Romania is free now, and their gymnasts, still some of the best in the world, have choices. Is it a loss to the sport that Romanian children are no longer forced into lives closer to slavery than anything else? The members of the Chinese team are doing some things that no one has ever seen before, and the commentators were marveling at their skills. Does this make the communist system better?
Think on the story of Yang Peiyi, the seven-year-old who competed against thousands of other little girls for the honor of singing her nation’s national anthem during the opening ceremonies on Sunday evening. She won the grueling competition and was set to sing the anthem, only to be removed at the very last minute and replaced with Lin Miaoke, who was deemed more “worthy” by politburo members.
You see, little Yang’s problem is that she has teeth just like most little girls. Her baby teeth are gone and her new teeth are pushing against each other in her mouth. It’s the same way with my eight-year-old, who is going to be getting braces soon to straighten her teeth.
But I love my daughter. When she smiles at me, I glow with the warmth of her smile. I love her, with or without perfect teeth.
Little Yang would have been loved too, especially by all those parents all over the world who recognize that she is just as a little girl should be while being blessed with a beautiful voice as well. Lin Miaoke, on the other hand, is a walking, talking, picture-perfect little lie.
She’s a forgery; a mask that the Chinese government erected to tell the world, “we are flawless in form and image.” But the free world knows better, and likely most everyone else too.
There’s no such thing as “flawless.” There is only broken humanity, with some who rise far above to remind the rest of us of what we can be, especially if we can understand our flaws and perhaps even embrace them. Understand our flaws and work to strengthen our talents so as to make the best possible use of them.
Last night we saw a few of the flaws of our women’s gymnastic team. They made mistakes, and they fell short. But on the whole they were so very great.
Last night they were amazing. And their performance flowed out of choices and sacrifices made over the years which have led to their greatness. They are so very young and yet have already accomplished so very much.
In China, on the other hand, there is no choice. The boys and girls there are carefully selected, removed from their families, and enslaved.
With their enslavement, ironically, come privileges rather than sacrifice. The parents know this. With their child in a special program, they will have better lives, so they go along. When their child asks to come home, they are told “no.” The children, for their part, get better food, better living conditions, and great recognition.
But in taking them in this way, the state also controls them even more completely than most. They are battered, cajoled, threatened, and generally live under enormous stress from childhood until they are no longer useful (whenever that might be).
And all to convey a lie to the world. The lie that China is “flawless in form and image.”
For all the effort and money put into making this olympiad a great one, we must remember that this is a government which uses it’s people as a human uses food. They are grasped, devoured, digested, then excreted. An ugly process perpetrated on a great people.
What is the difference between the Chinese athletes and ours? Choice.
That is to say, all the difference in the world.
3 Comments
Your post is a great example of what freedom really means. Freedom in means being able to have one child (boy or girl) or 18 children (like the Duggar family). Freedom means having the choice to embrace our flaws and imperfections and capitalize on them. Freedom is what allows great minds to invent and create. Freedom is what has sent us to war not only for our own country but for other countries. “It is for freedom that Christ set us free,” and it is the strength of this Galations 5:1 verse that bubbles passion in our heart for our country. God Bless America!
Comment by Christine — 8/21/2008 @ 4:52 pm
Thanks for your comments Christine.
Comment by David — 8/21/2008 @ 5:09 pm
Instead of reflecting and trying to improve, people use denial as a psychological haven to secure their beliefs that have been broken. All they need is to find excuses to justify their losses, which is not hard to do at all.
Never intermingle sports with politics. It is a time for the athletes to shine and receive the accomplishments due to their hard training. I hope you understand that.
Comment by Publius — 9/27/2008 @ 1:05 am