Received this in an e-mail and had to post it as well as a video. These Olympics have absolutely rocked and brought this country together like never before. I'll post pics of my trip in to Vancouver, medal ceremony and INXS concert soon!
First here is Tom Brokaw explaining the relationship between Canada and the US....
We never claimed to be perfect
That means we’ve learned to be humble
We say excuse me and I'm sorry…as well as please and thanks
Even when its not our fault we apologize
Sure one arm of the torch didn't rise,
But when the earthquake struck Haiti, Canadians raised their hands to say…”we’ll help”
And yah, there is a fence around the torch
But you can walk right up and shake hands with our Prime Minister and most famous Canadians
We put Gretzky in the back of a pick up, in the rain, not surrounded by police…and he was okay
And by the way... the great one is Canadian…and HE wasn’t complaining!
We do have security at the games, of course, but most people don't even have a gun they have to leave at home
The medals ARE under lock and key but our doors and our hearts are open to the world
It has been pointed out that some buses broke down last week….but let’s not overlook the fact that our banking system didn't
The "Olympia" ice machine at the Speed Skating Oval has worked perfectly for two years ++. Even after impeccable maintenance, a major glitch occurred at a most inopportune time. VANOC solved the problem within 24 hours.
Citius altius fortius
If you don't reach higher how do you get faster and stronger
Was the first quad jump perfect?
Should we not have given snowboarding to the world "in case" it didn’t take off?
So big deal…one out of four torch arms didn't rise. Good thing we had 3 more! It’s called contingency planning!
But remember…the Canadarm works every time…in outerspace….and insulin turned out to be okay
We couldn't change the weather but maybe we can help stop to global warming
We don't have the tax base of the US or the power of the Chinese but, per capita, we ponied up for some pretty kick-ass venues in the worst global recession ever
Sure, some folks couldn't afford tickets but our health care is universal
We have shown the world that we can raise our voices in celebration and song but moments later stand in silence to respect a tragic event...together..spontaneously…and unrehearsed.
What's more, we don't need permission from anyone to have a slam poet, fiddlers with piercings and a lesbian singer tell our story to the world while our multilingual female Haitian- born, black, head of state shares a box with her First Nations equals
We’ve shown the world that it doesn’t always rain in Vancouver, that you can strive for excellence but not get hung up on perfection
And we’ve learned what it feels like to be picked on by some no name newspaper guy and we don’t have to take it lying down!
So the point is not the snow, or the hydraulics or a couple guys being 5 minutes late to a ceremony, held up by protesters/anarchists
We know we’re lucky that these are the biggest problems we had to deal with in the last couple weeks.
So take your cheap shots….The Guardian (UK), New York Times and USA Today newspapers and cynics of the world
We're bigger and better than that.
What's more we're finally starting to believe it!
I'd live in Canada if you'd adjust the thermostat.
ReplyDeleteIt's still... real.
Wonderful games, and don't listen to those reporters - lord knows we don't. Which is why newspapers are dieing off.
I have two words to describe Canada performance in the games and their duties hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics....
ReplyDelete"Well Done!"