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Why the
2002 Winter Olympics Are Important
Terrorists win if these games get
overshadowed By
Jonathan M. Bell
For Outsports.com
It is now just over three months until
the Winter Olympic Games come to Salt Lake City, Utah. It is not too
soon to start thinking about journalistic assignments, and I want to
put my request in for curling coverage for Outsports.com.
I think it is important to attend these
games, and since being an Olympic athlete is far beyond my
capabilities and being an Olympic spectator is far beyond my means,
I’ll to go to the games any way I can. It’s important to go to
these games not despite what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, but because
of it.
It is important that America and the
global community that is best represented by the spirit of the
Olympics take its stand on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, and make
it clear that our lives will not be changed by terror. Terror will not
win.
Terror wins when people queue up to buy
gasmasks that don't work to solve problems they weren't designed for.
Terror wins when people stop flying the safest air travel system in
the world during its safest time ever. Terror wins when swarthy people
in turbans and beards are shot simply because they share a look with a
religion they don't practice. Terror wins when society becomes too
caught up in the big concepts like War and Justice and Vengeance to
participate in some of the more mundane pursuits, like Sport.
And if the 2002 Olympic winter
competitions are poorly attended, poorly covered or poorly contested,
then Terror will have won. There is only one civilian response to
terrorism, getting on with life. It's important to be sad; it's OK to
be angry; it's necessary to grieve. But through all of this we must
live on. Living on in the broad sense is easy. We still go to work. We
eat; we sleep; we do the things that are necessary to our survival.
But living on is more than just keeping the wheels spinning.
Sport is the epitome of what terrorism
is designed to stifle. It’s a small thing, a cherished hobby or
pastime. It isn’t a freedom, like Speech or Religion, which we would
gladly defend to the death. Sport is the purview of children, of the
Neanderthal delayed adolescent, of the middle aged trying to recapture
the magic of youth or, worse, of the aging couch potato who never
shared in the glory personally but has lived a life watching others
achieve on the field of play. We don’t respect Sport because we’ve
never not had it. It’s omnipresent in our society, and that tends to
devalue a thing.
Let's Get Perspective
Before we lose it, we must protect it
by making the 2002 Winter Olympic Games the most memorable, both on
the field of play and off (though, of course, there aren’t any
fields involved in the Winter Olympic Games, as everything is done on
ice or snow, but the metaphor holds). It’s not even a question of
safety. I’m not advocating a reckless disregard for personal and
public safety as a way to deal with terrorism. But let’s think about
what kills people in our world, particularly our country: drunk
drivers, smoking, bad diets, loved ones … and somewhere way down at
the bottom of the list, even after 6,000+ people died on one day in
one attack, terrorism.
Why aren’t we out there giving the
death sentence to drunk drivers, setting up check points for
cigarettes and cheeseburgers? Because we aren’t afraid of the devil
we know, no matter how many of us it takes down a year. We’re afraid
of the foreign devil we find mysterious and elusive. But let’s look
at terrorism on American soil. Before Sept. 11, the worst case of
terrorism ever encountered in America was the product of domestic
malcontents. The only case of terrorism blighting the Olympics while
in an American city was the result of a domestic religious extremist
who planted at least four other bombs.
By the way, just for a bit of
perspective, the United States has hosted the Games eight times,
including 2002. Japan and France, the nearest in number have both
hosted three Games. There are only two terrorist incidents in the
history of the games: Atlanta in 1996 and Munich in 1972. Beyond the
necessity to triumph psychologically over terrorists, it is asinine to
let our lives change in any significant way when there are worse
threats out there that we are ignoring.
So to back up my words with action, I
volunteer to go to Salt Lake City in February of 2002 and cover
curling for Outsports. Why curling? you may well ask. Because, first
of all, the premiere venues are going to be covered by those senior to
me in the Outsports organization.
For instance, our dedicated Butt Man,
Randy, I expect will be all over ice hockey, because there just
isn’t any butt out there like a hockey butt. Of course, Mindy will
likely be deployed at that legendary location for lesbians, the luge
track, which takes bobsledding out of the picture as well. Cyd, Jim
and Charlie all would be in line ahead of me for the posh beats of
figure skating and skiing, both Alpine and Nordic.
That pretty much leaves curling for me.
But I do have another reason, a bit more personal, a bit less
rational. I figure the safest place to be in the United States during
the Olympic fortnight is going to be Salt Lake City and the Olympic
venues. But if anything does happen, no terrorists in their right
minds would target curling. There’s only so much getting back to
normal that’s really possible.
(Jonathan M. Bell is a writer and
graphic designer in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. His fiction and poetry
have appeared in several small press literary magazines including
``Jack the Daw,'' ``Parallax'' and ``Garcia’s Kitchen'' and have won
several awards. His graphic design partnership, The Dog & Pony
Show, creates corporate identity through the creative use of the print
medium.
Nov. 2, 2001
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