Ahh, the Olympics... Where competition and nationalism are paired together in a deliciously combustible combination. Once every four years, people actually watch gymnastics and look to swimmers
(case in point: the seemingly untouchable Michael Phelps) as national heroes. Age-old athletic competitions that do not have the draw of football or basketball are restored to their proper place in the eyes of sports fans everywhere.
Yet these breathtaking athletic competitions are secondary to the big story, the essence of which is what gives international competition its real flavor. What truly makes the Olympics so exciting is the prospect of seeing the best athletes in the world compete for pride- national pride.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried once said,
"Nationalism is like cheap alcohol. First it makes you drunk, then it makes you blind, then it kills you." If that is really the case, then the Olympics is an orgy of blind, feverish drunkenness.
The athletes below sure look drunk to me- drunk with PRIDE! 
It's easy to come down hard on people who cheer for their country- especially if
their country isn't
your country. Pride does come before the Fall... But what if the Fall came before that?
I remember back in elementary school I started winning a lot of writing competitions. The subject?
Why I Am Proud to Be An American. I think, even as a kid, I realized that I was fortunate to be born here. In spite of all of America's problems, most of which I was totally unaware of at the time, I had a fundamental understanding of the pride, the joy, the privilege of being American.
I did not choose to be American, I was born American. Likewise, as I've gotten older, I've realized the same goes for my ethnicity.
I did not choose to be Chinese, I was born Chinese. For the last one hundred years, it's been tough being Chinese. For over a thousand years, China had been the most wealthy and powerful nation on earth- yet at the dawn of the 20th Century, China was impoverished and bled dry of land and resources by Europe and Japan.
A Century of Humiliation, made worse by a Communist regime that continued to run the country into the ground into the 1970s. Even in America, there was a Chinese Exclusion Act that was in effect until 1965- the only section of the U.S. immigration code that ever excluded a specific ethnic group from entering the country!
For the Chinese, to say that it was a fall from prominence would be an understatement- there was really not much to be proud of.
Now, amidst the scandals and controversies, the Beijing Olympics have definitively declared one thing-
China has risen up. While there is still much to be done, the economic and athletic progress for the Chinese takes on a far greater meaning than just sports. Perhaps the lyrics of the Chinese national anthem, "March of the Volunteers", can best describe what China is feeling right now?
Arise, all people who refuse to be slaves!
Let our flesh and blood become our new Great Wall!
As the Chinese people face their greatest peril,
Everyone forcefully issues their last cries.
Arise! Arise! Arise!
Our million hearts beat as one,
Brave the enemy's fire,
March on!
Brave the enemy's fire,
March on!
March on! March on! On!
I don't cheer for China because of its government, or because of its economic prowess, or even because of their athletes. I cheer for China because the Chinese people have stood up, have risen from the humiliation of time's past, and are heading for a bright future.
That's something worth celebrating, and that's why I cheer for China... in addition to America.
Comments (1)
讲得好， 让我们起来！