After listening to various people mention the Summer Olympics now and then and various businesses mention it here and there, one has to wonder, what in the heck happened to Olympic pride? Well, after a few pictures and memes started surfacing and America’s problems started entering the frame, it was kind of easy to figure out. All that pride and joy has been funneled into a shredder that will remain unnamed for now and has been reassembled and regurgitated into a mess that leaves us with what we have today. Standing in for your country as a recognized athlete is an honor, and to be fair it still is, but when one starts acting like a spoiled child to get attention (there are thoughts of calling it ‘Kaepernicking, or maybe Kae-nicking, it’s easier on the tongue) then credibility goes sailing like a hammer throw off into the wild blue yonder.
The Olympics are about national pride and the opportunity to represent your country.
That’s what it’s always been about for most people since the terms ‘me’ and ‘I’ tend to fall away next to ‘the team’. Few, if any countries have ever fielded just one person for the Olympics, and even then, it’s about country, it’s about pride, it’s not about being an individual. The Olympics are actually about a few concepts that might sound a bit outdated these days, such as:
- Honor: Not everyone can make to the Olympics, so earning that spot is a chance to honor the country that gave an athlete the chance to compete in the first place.
- Pride: Some folks don’t care about this that much and it shows, especially since it would appear that pride has a price tag affixed to it.
- Dignity: Along with pride, the dignity that is shown or abandoned by various athletes at time also comes with a price tag, and while it might be kind of high, it’s the mere fact that this has a price that makes it easy to think that Olympics just aren’t what they used to be.
- Competition: Remember those days when athletes would come to the Olympics JUST to compete? Most of them still do, but for one reason or another, the message sent by the Americans this time is that quitting is okay, if you don’t get first place you’re entitled to compete while still badmouthing your country, and if your team is standing for the anthem, you MUST be the woke one if you’re still kneeling. Seriously, isn’t opposite day running a little long?
Being an Olympian is a privilege, not a right.
It’s a right to compete, it’s a right for every person to do what they want and say what they want. But it’s also the right of the people who support them to remind them that it’s a privilege to compete in such a way that a person represents their country. If honor, pride, and dignity can’t be upheld though, it might be time for the entitled and ‘woke’ to find a new country to compete for. Just mull that over a bit.
WTR? (Why’s That Radass?)
The Olympics are a dream for numerous athletes that want to show what they can do, that want to compete for their country, and show the world that they’re worthy of this stage. Those that reach this level are to be respected for their determination and achievements, but you can bet that they’re going to be lambasted if they don’t react with the humility that people expect.
