The following text was sent to me in an email today. You know, those emails that get passed from friend to friend to friend and so on.... I don't know the origin of it so, unfortunately, I can't credit the original author but I thought that it was worth repeating.
"As expected, the 2010 Olympics have been subject to much criticism by some countries (the UK in particular) and by some of our own media and others - as if something this large could ever be perfect. The following commentary says it all so well.
We never claimed to be perfect
That means we've learned to be humble
We say excuse me and I'm sorry...as well as please and thanks
Even when it's not our fault WE apologize
Sure, one arm of the torch didn't rise
But when the earthquake struck Haiti, Canadians raised
their hands to say...."we'll help"
And yeah, there is a fence around the torch
But you can walk right up and shake hands with our prime
minister and most famous Canadians
We put Gretzky in the back of a pick-up, in the rain, not
surrounded by police....and he was okay
And by the way...The Great One is Canadian....
and HE wasn't complaining!
We do have security at the games, of course, but most
people don't even HAVE a gun they have to leave at home
The medals ARE under lock and key but our doors and
our hearts are open to the world
It has been pointed out that some buses broke down last
week....but let's not overlook the fact that our banking
system didn't
We didn't get the "green ice maker" right this time....but
we will, eventually
Just like we did when WE invented the zamboni
Citius altius fortius
If you don't reach higher how do you get faster and
stronger
Was the first quad jump perfect?
Should we not have given snowboarding to the world "in
case" it didn't take off?
So big deal...one out of four torch arms didn't rise. Good
thing we had 3 more! It's called contingency planning!
But remember...the Canadarm works every time...in
outerspace....and insulin turned out to be okay
We couldn't change the weather but maybe we can help
stop to stop global warming
We don't have the tax base of the US or the power of the
Chinese but, per capita, we ponied up for some pretty
kick-ass venues in the worst global recession ever
Sure, some folks couldn't afford tickets but our health care
is universal
We have shown the world that we can raise our voices in
celebration and song but moments later stand in silence to
respect a tragic event...together...spontaneously...and
unrehearsed.
What's more, we don't need permission from anyone to
have a slam poet, fiddlers with piercings and a lesbian
singer tell our story to the world while our multilingual
female Haitian-born, black head of state (Governor General) shares
a box with her first nations equals
We've shown the world that it doesn't always rain in
Vancouver, that you can strive for excellence but not get
hung up on perfection
And we've learned what it feels like to be picked on by
some no-name newspaper guy and we don't have to take
it lying down!
So the point is not the snow or the hydraulics or a couple
of guys being five minutes late to a ceremony
We know we're lucky that these are the biggest problems
we had to deal with in the last couple of weeks
Se take your cheap shots...Guardian newspaper and
cynics of the world
We're bigger and better than that.
What's more, we're finally starting to believe it!
Do you believe?
I Do!!!"
Kat
