Olympics are a big hit for My Family

My eldest son called on his way home from work Saturday afternoon to ask me one question: whether I had seen the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. He was disappointed to learn that I hadn't because he really wanted to talk about how "mind-boggling" they were. Needless to say, this enthusiastic description sent me to the DVR immediately to see what I had missed. I could only agree that the opening show was pretty spectacular. I especially liked the segment celebrating Chinese maritime tradition. Those special effects were awesome.

Even more awesome was the way thousands of Chinese performers worked together to achieve such amazing images, from mass drumming and tai-chi performed in unison to the art of making boxes rise and fall in perfect symmetry. Even the platform from which a Chinese singer performed was held up by her countrymen. Very cool.

Unity is always cool, and even in its beginning phases, the Olympics has shown us some good examples: the men's gymnastics team and silver-medal-winning women's relay team, for instance. Today I hope to see some of that unity in our men's basketball team, whose NBA stars failed to do well in Athens due to a sad lack of it. Hopefully, they've learned from that experience and will humble themselves enough to work together.

We can learn from their experience too, and that's what makes the Olympics great. Lesson one: Working (and playing and living) together takes humility. This is true in the Olympics, and this is true in the family. There are valuable lessons here, and I'm glad my family will be watching. 

PS. I'm also glad all of my children/grandchildren will be visiting next week so we can practice!