Today I feel compelled to blog about the events of the past three days or so. I need to vent, rant, gripe and complain. Why? Because that's pretty much all I have heard these past three days.
Friday night marked the beginning of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games here in Vancouver. Now to be up front, I was and still am, not a strong supporter of the games being held here I feel that the money could have been better spent elsewhere and I know I'm not alone with this train of thought. However, it's here and there is squat anyone can do about it, so I'm trying to enjoy the events, I'm cheering on our athletes as well as athletes from visiting country's who deserve recognition for their outstanding talents. I am Canadian after all and we love everybody, right? Well maybe not everybody as you will soon read.
I am utterly appalled by the militant activists here in our fair city vandalizing property and terrorising our guests. Their presence here is unwelcome their protests irrelevant, one group it protesting the oil sands in Alberta, someone should tell them they are one province too far. The Black Bloc as they call themselves you know them that's the group dressed in black with their faces covered, are nothing less than cowards, show us who you are or is that a problem? The Oka Warriors, what on earth are you doing here? We represented the native community nicely, the other bands seem pleased, so what's your beef?
These groups infiltrate cities were major news coverage can be found, they are attention seekers of the extreme, and if the media wouldn't give them the attention they are seeking, maybe they will go away. Or escalate out of hand and we know what that entails. So we're damned if we do and we're damned if we don't. Hopefully the police can diffuse the ticking time bomb and they just crawl back under the rock from which they came.
My next big gripe, and this is a biggy mostly because it has been a long standing argument here in Canada and there is no end in sight. Apparently we didn't represent Quebec quite to their liking. Oops, but you know what. Too bad. It wouldn't matter if we presented the entire opening ceremonies if french, they would find fault because well, it's in Vancouver and not some Quebec city. This is a huge bone of contention for me because no matter what english speaking Canada does it's never to Quebec's standard. So why do we cow tow to one province when Canada is soooo much more? Ok, maybe Quebec signed up first with provincial funding, and in turn we put the french language first on pretty much everything at the opening ceremonies, still it is not enough.
Did someone forget to thank Quebec? Well, OK, THANK YOU! Good grief, what more do you want? The Olympics are being held in a prominently english speaking province and you want center stage? This reminds me of the one whiny child in a big family, you know the one. The child who wants two helpings of desert when there is only enough for one each. They trow a tantrum until one of the more compliant children, lets call them oh, New Foundland, or Saskatchewan, gives up their desert just to make whiny child shut up. Well this time, we should send them to their room without desert until they learn to accept what is given and like it. That's what my french Canadian, grandmother would have done.
This may be a harsh analogy but I'm not too far off with this comparison. How long does the rest of Canada have to put up with this whiny child before someone has had enough and puts them in their place? We are ALL Canadians, and if Quebec wants to leave I say let them. It may screw things up for me having been born there and all, but I'll deal with that if I have to. So let them go, and don't continue to support them financially that shouldn't even be a consideration, it's their choice, why should they still have all the benefits of the rest of the provinces who are quite happy being Canadian? Maybe the U.S. will gobble them up, then let them try to complain then. The U.S. certainly wouldn't put up with that sort of behaviour.
So that covers the protesters and Quebec. The last news worthy item I want to discuss is the absolutely devastating tragedy of the death of Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili what a horrible accident to have happen. Never mind on the opening day, that's irrelevant. It's should have never happened and Vanoc has taken some heat for the accident. Of course fingers need to be pointed right? Well, they since made significant changes to the track, they raised the sides at the end and padded the pillars. They lowered the men's gate to the women's gate and lowered the women's gate they modified the ice in the hopes of slowing the Luger's down. When we watched the men's luge on the weekend they were still hitting speeds as high as Nodar's speed when he had his accident.
What boils my blood over this are the misinformed individuals who slam Vancouver and the Olympic organizers for poor workmanship intimating that the luge track is substandard. The track was passed by all the powers that be, and from what I gather, they don't have a crystal ball to look into to foresee potential problems. The accident was exactly that an accident. Nodar lost control, he was going too fast and couldn't regain control due to the tremendous g-force on his body there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent it. At least not at that time. They have taken the necessary safety precautions and hopefully track designers will automatically add them in the future.
All athletes, Luger's included know there is risk in their sport, they hop on a tiny piece of I'm guessing carbon fiber, on giant skate like blades and hurl themselves down a track made of ice. They are well aware of the risk they take, they are well aware that this run could be their last, but they do it anyway. I'm sure you will all agree, the risk is great and the potential to be seriously injured if not killed has to weigh at the backs of their minds. One wrong turn and it's over. But then, step out on a busy street and your risks are probably pretty comparable. Life is terminal, we are born for the end purpose of dying. Live life to the absolute best of your ability and enjoy it. Nordar was far too young to have had to leave, but it happened and no amount of Olympic bashing will bring him back.
So there you have it, I feel better for having the opportunity to get these thoughts out of my head and into cyber space. I AM CANADIAN and I am proud of my country for what it is. There are the warts, all country's have them, but we are a great nation and should be proud of where we are today. We will not let a bunch of anarchists or militants ruin our patriotism, and we will not let one province dictate how we should act in our own home provinces, no matter which province they are unhappy with. I AM CANADIAN, I dare you to call me anything else.
With much love, light and Canadian pride,
Tammy.
No comments:
Post a Comment