Olympics: Good or Bad?

Politics, propaganda, payload, party. The 2010 Vancouver Olympics has it all.

If you are an avid sports fan, like my husband, then you are most likely going to be tuned into every possible Olympic sport your fat little thumb can enter on the remote. If you're one of the "lucky" ones that bought a ticket and can still attend the event, well good for you. Seriously

I have been a non vocal, quiet protester of the Olympics from the moment the bid was put in. I could see that there wasn't a deep well of financial support for all the venues, buildings, shows, glitches and foreign employees. Not to mention the art (cost) of conjuring snow.

OK, so, we'll bring in a little revenue for a couple of weeks.....or will we? Already Whistler is citing a 40% loss in buisiness, VANOC and the IOC have somehow managed to 'block' 500 or so seats to main Hockey events that remain emtpy. Um...why?

Newspapers and newscasts all over the globe are calling the 2010 Olympics a fiasco. Not only did they start out with a dreadful tragedy, (my condolences to the family), but it now seems as though every time there is a news report, something has gone amiss. Mud in the standing area, buses breaking down, Zambonies pock marking the ice, snow melting and turning to slush.

Sure, we can't dictate ordinances to Mother Nature, we can't control freak accidents, mud and rain, but surely, we can control the hiring of Americans to do Canadian jobs right? Can we fill up those 500 empty seats? Sure! I know 3 people right here who would snap those tickets up in a second!

But here in lies the rub, we, the tax payer, THE OLYMPIC FUNDERS, have absolutely NO say in what VANOC or the IOC decides to do during these Olympic games.

A thought just occurred to me, will I be fined, jailed, pursecuted, repremanded and branded an infidel for using the word 'Olympic(s)' without written, paid for permission from the IOC?
oooh tremble, tremble...

Democracy? What's that? Oh yes, I remember, isnt that when you let forgeiners into your country and then thank them for changing everything including our national anthem, hiring outside the confines of our legislated boundaries, and then give them MORE money to do so?

Ya, I don't recall learning that in school....

When all is said and done, my 6 year old will have the rest of her life to pay for irresponsible decisions, hopefully many of them will not be her own.

Up until last Sunday night, I had Boo'd and Poo Poo'd the Olympics, then on our way home from my parents place, we took a detour through Richmond and drove past the Richmond O Zone. There were at least 2000 people there that I could see, waving little paper Canadian flags, wearing temporary tatoo's on their cheeks and garbed in all sorts of red and white Olympic apparel.

As I listened to my little girl ooh and ahh over what she thought were the Olympic games, I realized that amid all my bitching and whining, I was depriving her of a once in a lifetime experience. She reminded me that we are hosting a great big huge party to the world.

Today, I went out and bought a couple of those Canadian flags that attach to the windows of the car. Not because of the Olympics, (well, maybe a smidge) but because I am a Canadian and I am proud to be one, moreover, i am lucky to be one. I am not defined by my politeness, I am not defined by my country of birth. I am defined by the choices I make, the beliefs I have and the way in which I express them. I have chosen to be a proud Canadian, and I decided to show it.

I still have concerns about our financial future and the ramifications of it, but today, I am going to enjoy the party, Wanna Come?

Why not make the most of it? take the kid to the O Zone and have some over priced lukewarm greasy food and some fun. Isn't that what we do every year at the PNE?

Who knows, maybe, she'll have a gold metal memory to tell her grand-kids. What a lifetime that would be, Eh?