Editor’s Note:
While I abhor anonymous material in general I thought this unattributed response to all of the foreign criticism of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics was worth sharing. Sent to The Current by Garth Erick. It is quintessentially Canadian.
So we’re not perfect!
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 its 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 yah, there is a fence around the flaming torches,
But you can walk right up and shake hands with our politicians 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.
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 must 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 – The Olympic Motto
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 three 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 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 one of the the worst global recessions 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 talented lesbian singer tell our story to the world while our multilingual female Haitian- born, black, head of state 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 ink-stained newspaper kvetcher, and we don’t have to take it lying down!
So the point is it is not the snow, (or lack of it) the hydraulics, or a couple guys being 5 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 weeks.
So take your cheap shots….Guardian newspaper and cynics of the world…
We’re bigger and better than that.
