Olympic Ups and Downs

When I flipped through the channels at 8 pm last night, I didn't intend to stay up until midnight watching the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. I thought I'd watch the parade of athletes, admire their flags, their outfits and play the "Place This Country on a World Map" game.
I was first drawn in by the remarkable display of the native peoples of Canada, such wonderful variety in costumes, colors and dance. Then the parade of athletes...I wondered if Iran and Israel separated only by Ireland in the queue might actually put their politics aside and get to know each other. Just as I was about to turn off the TV and do something productive - like finish my tax return - a snow storm began inside Vancover's BC Place. Executive producer David Atkins with his 100 projectors and incredible creative vision had me transfixed! A convincing ice melt, followed by a flood then a pod of whales spouting seawater from the stadium floor! I wished I had invested in a wide screen HDTV. The images continued to delight. A polar bear floating over the "ice"; a forest growing before spectator's eyes; a young man running then flying across the plains; the Rockies emerging as if we were witness to a 100,000 years of geographic change in an instant! A true masterpiece!
The speeches and musical numbers that followed were less inspired, but I had already invested my entire evening, surely I'd see it through to the lighting of the Olympic flame! Unfortunately, as the world witnessed what should have been the most stirring, emotional and climatic moment of the evening... the mechanism lifting the cauldron failed to perform (pun intended). I read that a Twitterer Tweeted "After all, Canada invented insulin, not Viagra".
It saddens me that as spectacular as the preceding performance had been, what will be remembered is the malfunction that ended the evening, and the death of a young Georgian athlete striving to be the best at a particularly dangerous sport.
As the cauldron was never-the-less lit with three torches instead of four, I was excited to be a witness to yet another Olympics; an opportunity for the world to experience both national pride, international understanding andglobal goodwill.
I am a Unitarian Universalist. The symbol of my religion is a lighted chalice, much like the Olympic cauldron. Whenever we meet, for services, for gatherings even for committee meetings, we light a chalice as a symbol of a "spiritual light" guiding us along our way. My wish for the athletes of the 2010 Winter Olympics is that the torch helps to light their way not only as they try to achieve their personal best physically, but mentally and spiritually as well.