Saturday, 16 August 2008

Well, my summer life is almost over. Break out the white shirts and ties. Yesterday saw the first of three days of teacher meetings (Fri, Mon, Tue). Wednesday is the first day of school and, as I begin this sixth year here, I'm actually surprised about how excited I am. (I am excited every year ... but I expected it to get routine over time.) I passed one of my 7th grade boys in the neighborhood this afternoon and when I reminded him there were only four days of summer remaining, he just groaned. ;-)

My darlin' Marilyn is doing much, much better. It is a problem for her when she laughs and smiles, which she does a lot, but they'll remove the stitches Tuesday and in 2-3 months put in the permanent (we hope) implant.

The Olympics are, of course, a huge deal here. (Can anyone spell, "duh"?) We saw two soccer games on a single ticket a few days ago. I prefer to watch it on television where I can flip through 4-6 channels at any given time showing some kind of event. (You have to remember who owns everything.) It's much like the US or any other country broadcasting it: if that country has no chance in an event, you don't get to see it. However, the Chinese team is so large (remember the opening ceremony), that we get to see many, many things ... many more things than I ever got to see on US television broadcasts.
One of our friends is an Olympic volunteer, one of tens of thousands in half a dozen cities. Now, imagine, a few million American people (mostly college students) applying to be Olympic volunteers ... unpaid being a key issue, mind you. Incredible. They are excited, helpful, polite, educated and smiling ALL of the time.
The little controversies you hear of singers, "squinting" basketball teams, rather youthful athletes ... I don't get excited about them. They're par for the course in every major event of this type because we live in a fallen world. But I absolutely loved the perfectly-choreographed 2,008 drummers and the joy on their faces. I admired the older man running around the lip of the stadium to light the torch and the mind that thunk that one up. (Boy, has London got a big job to impress us in 2012.)
I got excited about the 17 year old Chinese boy lifting weights for a gold medal, the Ethiopian girl who won the 10,000 meters yesterday and the look on the American girl's face who suddenly realized she came in 3rd for bronze. There is something about the summer Olympics that should cause everyone to set differences aside.
In the 10,000 meters, I watched the Ethiopian girl lapping several other girls. As she stood near the finish line, I could see them continue to run. Why? Because their race wasn't over. Her race was over but they still had one, or even, two laps to complete before they could stop. As some of them finally reached their personal finish line, I could see them look at their wristwatches ... evaluating their race. Of course, most all of them had the glory of Olympic medals in mind earlier, but there was only going to be one winner. Yet they didn't quit, they didn't slow down and walk in ... they ran ... to the end! Be it so for you and me.

Bye, y'all!
I love you guys,
In His Name,
Mark/Dad/Grandpa