Olympic Lessons

With the end of the Olympic Games, for those of us that have watched, it was quite exciting and amazing. Young people from around the world competing to be the best in their respective fields and trying their hardest. These past months we have heard over and over how our country is not great and we need a particular person to make it great again.

Well, it seems to me that after watching most of the Olympics we had a lesson in greatness from our young people. The United States looked to be the most diverse group of any of the countries competing. Every color, race, nationality and probably religion was represented. What we saw besides good sportsmanship was a genuine happiness for their fellow competitors, whether they were teammates or not. Somehow in spite of all of the rhetoric to the contrary our young people showed the world about kindness and compassion for their fellow man. The unfortunate actions of four individuals should not take away from the accomplishments of many. Another lesson for us was that vandalism knows no color or social status.

Every day there are young adults out in this country and in this world of ours that are working for basic human rights for all humanity and respect for human dignity. Let us not forget that in the coming months when we listen to speeches of fear, hate and non-tolerance.

Carol Schmidt
Baileys Harbor, Wis.