Tag Archive for Olympics

Olympics, Brazilian Style

Watch this video about the first-ever indigenous games.  Different sports, different costumes, different purpose.  What is the same, though, is that people let politics get in the way.

Check out the #Olympics in #Brazil – no, not Rio 2016, but the first-ever Indigenous Games. Part sport, part tradition, part protest:

Posted by CNN Connect the World on Monday, November 9, 2015

 

The Price of Two Olympic Events

How much is an Olympic ski run worth?  The destruction of a species?  How about a 500-year-old forest?

South Korea is clear-cutting an ancient forest to build a ski run–to be used for only four days (two ski events) for the Olympic Games.  Sure, they can plant more trees later..and wait 500 years for them to get to where they are now.  In the process, they are destroying what is almost the last remaining habitat of the Eurasian Otter, the Leopard Cat, the Marten, and the Flying Squirrel, putting these four species into danger of extinction. This is the fulfilling of their promise to make these Winter Olympics “Green Games”?

There is time to stop this unconscionable destruction from happening.  Sign the Avaaz petition that says,

As concerned citizens from across the globe, we call on you to stop the destruction of forest on Mount Gariwang for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and to protect what remains of this forest that has been a sanctuary for over 500 years. We urge the IOC to ensure that all Olympic Games truly live up to ideals of sustainability and environmental protection.

Find it at https://secure.avaaz.org/en/save_ancient_korean_forest_loc/?bUWNBhb&v=64804.

 

 

 

Those Satanic Winter Games

“Satanic Winter Games” is what a militant Islamic leader called the upcoming Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  He feels that, because the games are the work of Satan, bombs should be set off and people killed.

Let me understand this. The Olympics are games that bring people together from all over the world, forgetting their national grudges for a time.  They require people to agree to abide by rules that foster cooperation and peace.  Their participants actually root for others from different countries, encouraging them to do their best, taking joy in their victory and weeping with them in their defeat.  They bring young people together in ways that offer hope for a war-weary world.  In short, the Olympics celebrate the wonder of the human spirit.

Now, that’s not the Satan I’ve ever heard about.  In fact, it’s a whole different Satan than any of my Bible-believing Christian or  Koran-devoted Muslim friends would recognize.

To that leader quoted above I say, “May you enjoy an eternity with your friend, Satan!”