Tuesday, February 04, 2014

Well, I Tell You, I've Been To Sochi!!!

Football is done. At last.
The Olympics taking place in Russia have me as nervous as a kitten at a canine "Anti-Cat" rally. 
I can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen geopolitically.
You see, I've been to Sochi.
That is, South Chicago. Got off the el and was instantly the only white person in view on the streets.
I had no fear, but I admit to being nervous. A man came up and asked, "Excuse me, but do you know where you are?"
I assured him that I did know, and that I was waiting for a friend who would be picking me up.
Said friend did make an appearance a few minutes later and away we went.
Right here in America, I felt akin to Heinlein's stranger in a strange land. An outsider.
Considering the instability of the middle east right now, and the fact that those countries might not be as emotionally invested in "Winter" Olympics, well, huh.
The Games might be seen as a viable target close to home, but on Russia's soil.
I wouldn't be surprised if something big and nasty happens.
But...we may have Jimmy Carter to thank if the Olympics do go off without catastrophe.
He cancelled our participation in the Moscow Olympics back in 1980. Due to security concerns.
If Putin wants to remind us that Carter's fears were groundless, he may be Putin extra security on the Games to show that all is fine in Mother Russia. Come for the Games, return for the bonhomie.
May God protect the Winter Olympics and all of the athletes, whether they believe in Him or not.


1 comment:

Doug said...

Here's a fun bit of racial intolerance
that we can laugh over now.
There's a pretty good movie called "Smoke Signals" which details a couple of Native American guys on a road trip.
During the trip they meet a woman on a bus who had been a gymnast denied any chance at Olympic Gold because Carter boycotted Moscow 1980.
Here's the funny racial intolerance part.
I encouraged a friend to see the movie, but she didn't want to watch any movie that a "white Christian Conservative" would like. She was part Native American, you see, and my polar opposite in most things.
Then we happened to work together for another six or so years, and she got so she knew Doug and not merely a White Christian Conservative who happens to like all kinds of good movies.
"Smoke Signals". Check it out if you dare.