There Truly Is An Olympic Ideal ...

BY BEN TALLEY
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER

The Ancient Greeks did something special, no doubt something that we, in the modern world, can appear to be incapable of doing. They stopped war for their Olympic Games. Indeed, no matter how bitter or bloody the conflict, swords were laid down out of respect for a greater ideal – the Games themselves.

Like many Americans, I look forward to being glued to the tube each evening for the next several days. From eight o’clock on I can be found gawking in wonder at perhaps the greatest assemblage of international human cooperation ever achieved on the planet – the Olympic Games.

As I watch the Games in awe and respect, I find myself wondering why we, the various tribes (or nations) of Earth, can’t seem to cooperate nearly so well on other matters, at other times.

Of course, we’re all “tribal” in a very real sense. None of us can just erase 90 percent of human cultural and genetic prehistory with peace treaties, no matter how noble our intentions. We are, as a species, and always have been, very guarded of our “territory” – for a much longer time in this world than we’ve been civilized.

Can we co-exist on this planet, in peace and brotherhood, as one big, collective “tribe”?

I think an example is already there for us. Indeed, it began nearly 28 centuries ago – the Olympic Games.

Speaking of “territory,” while sea levels rise at our feet, global climate change and nuclear annihilation hang like scepters above our heads – all our heads, no matter what country we call home. Our collective future can appear all doom and gloom, if one so chooses to view it.

The Olympic Games give us hope that things can be different. We even prove it, if only for the briefest of whiles, for 16 days every few years.

The Games bring out the best in us. We, the human element, pour sportsmanship into distrust – and a new element is formed. An element called brotherhood.

We, the human element, out of the fires of our natural urge for competition, somehow manage to forge mutual honor and respect.

It is no small miracle that these things can be done. In fact, they very well may not even be miracles at all. They are the human element at its very best and most capable.

Perhaps one of the hardest things I’ve ever done is umpire behind the plate in a Little League baseball game. Parents told me to grab a mask and go back there, that everyone respected me, since I’d taught so many of their children.

It took less than five minutes before the name-calling started. In the eyes of those parents, I had transformed. I now was perceived, not as a trusted and beloved teacher of their children, but as someone who sought to embarrass those same children (their “territory”) for everyone to see.

While umpiring, which I continued to do for years, it struck me how even “good people” can rely so heavily on primal instincts, particularly if they feel their “territory” is threatened.

The Olympic Games are not perfect. They can’t be, for we who created them are not.

But the Games are, perhaps, our most shining ideal for how to get along in the bigger world. Every few years, we prove we can do it.

So, as you sit back in your armchair and view the grandest show on Earth each evening, think of how it could be, maybe even sooner than we think.

It seems that we’re at a pivotal epoch in human existence. Over the next few years, or – at most – over the next century, we appear to be poised to take one of two options: annihilation or cooperation. Our genes and culture have placed the capability of both well within our reach.

Go watch a local youth sports game (this time of year, it might be football). Watch the fans. Or, better yet ... watch yourself. What you see may decide the future of humanity – even more so than the Olympic Games.

Ben Talley teaches science at Van Pelt Elementary School in Bristol, Va. He may be reached at btalley@bvps.org.