30-Day Blogging Challenge

Olympic Relevance - Or, Should Athletes Still Compete Naked?

Prompt:  Do you think the Olympics are less relevant today when compared to the past? Discuss why/why Not.

Modern Olympics v. Ancient Olympics.  (Ancient.  Now that I think about it, a "Geriatric Olympics" would be interesting...)

I think that the Olympics are just as meaningful, but mean something different than they once did.  Maybe the purpose of the Olympics in ancient Greece was to promote 'fitness-in-the-inevitable-case-of-war', or maybe for entertainment, or just another arena for competition between very, very competitive people.

We are definitely still competitive as a global culture, and still want to be entertained, but we do not fight wars as we once did.  No one would probably look at Michael Phelps and say, I wish he would join the Navy, he is exactly what we are looking for in a soldier. 

I think the modern relevance of the Olympics is one of hope.  We used to think of peace and fellowship when we thought of the Olympics:  Think Chariots of Fire.  But in our time it may be that we have become hopeless about our future as a species.  We don't see any potential for growth in spiritual, physical or emotional ways.  Our heavily technological lifestyles may have robbed us of forward momentum.  Our major achievements seem to be of smaller devices, faster access to information, further invasions of privacy and less need to leave the house for anything at all.

Isn't it wonderful to be reminded that the human body still has the ability to do the amazing things we see on our televisions?  That world records fall, if only by fractions of a second? 

I feel like we all need to be reminded that some humans still strive for excellence, are still driven to be the best in the world at their chosen art, and that they aren't all over-paid basketball players.  I know that we don't tune in to watch the annual Nobel Prize awards, but maybe some day we will.