Date Taken: 7/13/12
Setting: The upper school
Thoughts: Every summer, we take the students to the upper school and have Olympics. I feel it is necessary to preface the rest of this post with a fact that many people find off putting...I hate the Olympics. I find watching sports of any kind (unless a personal friend is playing) to be utterly boring and a waste of my time. So, there's that. More than that factor though, is the fact that the Olympics get hyped up in a way that feels unsettling to me.
There is a commercial for this year's Olympics that shows moms waking their various children early in the morning to take them to practices then shows them later on as their child wins a medal in the Olympics. First of all, are moms the only ones that can take care of children? Also, at what point did those small children actually consent to the long, arduous, painful road of possibly becoming an Olympic athlete? Why are we celebrating this kind of behavior. The adults that start training small children for these kinds of competitions are doing these children many a disservice. These children don't get to be children, they have to be machines whose bodies are not wholly their own, and whose disappointments play out at a national level.
I also find that the opening ceremonies and the overarching competition itself to be the most colossal waste of money, next to any and all superbowl half time shows of course. I wonder what would happen if the millions, possibly billions of dollars put into making those ceremonies and the games was actually spent trying to help people. There are kids that go to bed hungry every night, but that's boring, especially compared to fireworks and shiny costumes and elaborate choreography.
The only Olympics I like are the ones with do at Summerbridge. This year's games were the best I have been a part of. Josh and his committee planned them to perfection and everyone involved seemed to have a blast. What I love about our Olympics is that it allows our students to take a break from the heavy, adult burdens they often carry with them and run around and be kids for a little while. They get to laugh and dance and perform and play. They get to enjoy the company of peers that want to learn. They get to be excited about something larger than themselves. That's what the Olympics should be - a time to celebrate life's simple moments and joys and do so with little more than a few hula hoops, some cones, and some dodgeballs.
The pictures below are just a few of the amazing moments that happened on this day.
Setting: The upper school
Thoughts: Every summer, we take the students to the upper school and have Olympics. I feel it is necessary to preface the rest of this post with a fact that many people find off putting...I hate the Olympics. I find watching sports of any kind (unless a personal friend is playing) to be utterly boring and a waste of my time. So, there's that. More than that factor though, is the fact that the Olympics get hyped up in a way that feels unsettling to me.
There is a commercial for this year's Olympics that shows moms waking their various children early in the morning to take them to practices then shows them later on as their child wins a medal in the Olympics. First of all, are moms the only ones that can take care of children? Also, at what point did those small children actually consent to the long, arduous, painful road of possibly becoming an Olympic athlete? Why are we celebrating this kind of behavior. The adults that start training small children for these kinds of competitions are doing these children many a disservice. These children don't get to be children, they have to be machines whose bodies are not wholly their own, and whose disappointments play out at a national level.
I also find that the opening ceremonies and the overarching competition itself to be the most colossal waste of money, next to any and all superbowl half time shows of course. I wonder what would happen if the millions, possibly billions of dollars put into making those ceremonies and the games was actually spent trying to help people. There are kids that go to bed hungry every night, but that's boring, especially compared to fireworks and shiny costumes and elaborate choreography.
The only Olympics I like are the ones with do at Summerbridge. This year's games were the best I have been a part of. Josh and his committee planned them to perfection and everyone involved seemed to have a blast. What I love about our Olympics is that it allows our students to take a break from the heavy, adult burdens they often carry with them and run around and be kids for a little while. They get to laugh and dance and perform and play. They get to enjoy the company of peers that want to learn. They get to be excited about something larger than themselves. That's what the Olympics should be - a time to celebrate life's simple moments and joys and do so with little more than a few hula hoops, some cones, and some dodgeballs.
The pictures below are just a few of the amazing moments that happened on this day.
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