Philosophical Phursday

Well we've had the excitement of Gold from good old Bradley Wiggings, and the marvellous Helen Glover and Heather Stanning and it’s been nearly a week now since we all sat in wonder and watched the Olympic opening ceremony, even if they did announce the Queens arrival in French before having it in English! RUDE!! Only the most cynical of us could pick holes and not be impressed in what Mr Danny Boyle came up with.

There were moments where everyone must of said WOW that’s amazing! There were also moments where we all laughed out loud, I’m thinking of James Bond and the Queen and the brilliant Rowan Atkinson of course. Overall I think it left most of us feeling rather proud as a Nation.

Then of course the VERY LONG marching in of the teams started, I’m pretty sure most people who watched that bit were all thinking at some point, “There’s a country called that! where the heck is that country!?”. All finished off of course by British legends of Olympics literally handing over torches to the upcoming young athletes of tomorrow. Who then lit that amazingly beautiful cauldron that closed together like a flower.

I myself decided to switch off and go to bed when Sir Paul stepped up and started belting out ‘Hey Jude’ as I know he always gets carried away with that song and it may well of lasted another hour and a half. And I like Paul McCartney!

There was something rather awe-inspiring as all the teams were marching in one after the other though, that made me think. Here were 204 different nationalities from contrasting cultures, and conflicting religions and beliefs all coming together under one roof. All smiling, all cheering, all looking like they were thrilled to be a part of this global community, all having a deep respect for all the other athletes, and all supporting the same set of rules that the Olympics are run by.

I couldn’t help but think wouldn’t it be nice if we all could do that more often, without the need of a global sporting event. Wouldn’t it be an amazing world to live in if all those countries that take part and all the ones that haven’t, could learn to take a step back, put aside our differences, and see that infact we are all under the same sky. That our reasons for arguments and hostility aren’t really that important in the grand scheme of things.

Generally speaking we all share the same notions of good and bad and right and wrong, even if our cultures and beliefs are poles apart. I’m not talking about the extremists of course who do unspeakable things under what they believe to be religious grounds, sadly most of which have no relation to the the religion they claim to be following.

It’s a shame that the respect for each other that comes with the ‘Olympic Spirit’ can’t spill over and spread itself out on a global scale long after the closing ceremony has finished. Still, as one of Mr McCartney’s old co-workers once said “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one” and as long as there are dreamers like me and others out there, there is still hope for us all, for a brighter, better and more peaceful tomorrow. (Look after yourself and each other.)