Okay, so I’ve caught Olympic fever–or at least an Olympic cold : )
We’re a few days in and it is my background noise. I even discovered that the local cable company added an Olympic spotlight station where I can watch all 6 channels of coverage at the same time. Olympic overstimulation, but quite fun.
Those that follow me on twitter may have seen my frustration with tape delays. I like watching things live and having the excitement. The evening portion is actually my least favorite part as I already know what happens.
But I’m watching the Olympics…
…from the cheap seats.
Every now and then I have to remind myself that the person who finished in last place in swimming is often less than a second behind the person who finished in first. The gymnast who did qualify for the all around missed it because they got deducted some tenths of points for stepping out of bounds after doing several flips. The archery team finished in second because in the end all of their shots weren’t bullseyes.
And yet I can get up in the commentary about the imperfections of the athletes and how they aren’t doing their best.
And still, this imperfection is so much better than anything I am currently cable of doing.
I sit watching tv as these athletes perform.
I sit in the cheap seats and watch the background story of the gymnast who woke up early before school and spent several hours after school training for this single moment.
I sit and watch.
But what am I doing?
Don’t get me wrong–I’m going to watch more events, but if we want to really walk away with something from these Olympics, let’s walk away with the stories of that work ethic.
These athletes weren’t given instant fame on some reality show. They weren’t pulled out from the crowd.
They worked. Really hard. Every day. For years.
Shouldn’t we strive to do the same?