The Olympics

Every two years, the Olympics hit the airwaves and we see sports history in the making.  The events change a little.  The rules flex and the competition increases each and every outing.  We are currently in the middle of the Winter Olympics being held in Vancouver, British Columbia.

I am not a winter sports enthusiast.  I have never gone skiing.  I spend very little time on ice skates although I will admit I wanted to learn to play hockey as a teen.  My father refused.  My sister got figure skating lessons and I seethed.  But I digress.

I married a man who does not like to be cold.  So while family members tried to rally group visits to ski, we pled finances and avoided it at all costs.  Ask us to accompany you to a beach somewhere and we're in.

There's a lot about the Olympics that I find heartwarming and the newscasters manage to give a lot of personal interest by researching the competitors and finding the human angles on the stories they tell.  Often these stories involve little kids wanting something so badly that they give up hours of play time to sacrifice and work their way into the upper echelons of amateur athletics.  These stories always have the same effect on me.

I feel worthless.

That's right, instead of being inspired by their stories of sacrifice and loss, I am forever reminded that I have never wanted anything badly enough to work that hard for it.  I was never willing to practice anything for four hours before heading off to school, then returning after school for another four hours of practice before dropping into bed, doing a rinse and repeat the next day.  I am not that guy.

Being reminded of my frivolous nature and magpie tendencies is lowering to say the least.  One likes to think that 'we can overcome' and 'fight the good fight' but realizing that you just don't care enough to make the effort is depressing.  I get distracted.  I don't stick with anything.  I am a jack of all trades, master of none.

The Olympian athletes inspire the very young to greatness--to follow in their footsteps.  For folks my age, we watch and see, thinking, "ow, they're going to feel THAT in the morning!"  "How do they bend that way?  It's not right."  "They don't even look cold, how can they not be freezing?"

I am not inclined to try to better myself and challenge sports to attain international attention.  It just looks like too much work.

--Sandee Wagner