With the culmination of the Vancouver Olympics this week, a few amazing things have happened. First off, we won more medals than ever before, we won more gold medals than an nation ever during a Winter Olympics, and, most importantly, we as a nation began to feel that we could show our patriotic pride to the rest of the world, not merely through our competitive spirits, but our ability to host, and celebrate with our neighbors from around the world. The stories that have been told during the past 17 days will live forever, and hopefully so will the desire to continue to “Own the Podium,” even though it received some unwarranted negative press for being “un-Canadian.” There is nothing more Canadian in my opinion than standing up for our dreams and setting our minds to acheivements, regardless of how grand. This same spirit gave us the courage to land on the beaches of Normandy. It gave the athletes who had to work tirelessly for what essentially worked out to minimum wage or less, while putting their bodies, families and even their lives at stake to compete in the sports they are passionate about, for the nation they love. It gave our soldiers the strength to continue fighting to help a nation on the brink of collapse, when everyone at home was saying to leave and “let them figure it out for themselves.” We choose to be the ones who stand up for what is right, no matter who else may not.
Let’s all hope these games have left more than a few Canadians inspired to begin a sport, or to chase a dream, no matter how big or unrealistic it may be. Let’s also choose to pay attention to those athletes more frequently than once every four years, because they need all of our support to display our true patric love for many Olympics to come. Hopefully we as a nation will continue to dream big.