8-8-08

OHMYGOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did you see the Opening for the Olympic games?? It was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed on television not counting the first man on the moon. The man who directed the whole thing and imagined it is a real genius. It was beautiful, spectacular, interesting and not too out there as some have been in the past.
The people who participated were amazingly coordinated and when it was revealed that the Chinese blocks were handled by people I couldn't even believe it. 2008 drummers didn't miss a beat! The Chinese people really pulled out all the stops to impress the rest of the world.
Yao Ming(whose English is still really bad) led the Chinese delegation with a little boy who saved his friends during the recent earthquake. Watching those two brought tears to my eyes. The little boy went back and saved them in spite of his own injuries and he is only nine years old! Plus the kid was a tiny little thing(especially compared to seven and a half foot Yao) and after the interview on American television said Thank you in English as plain as day. What a charmer--he should be their leader when the time comes. Brave and loyal and charming--what every world leader should be. John Edwards could take a page from his book(about the loyal part, I mean).
The young men and women were beautiful and the costumes and pageantry were unsurpassed. The show included Chinese history and culture. I learned a lot.
And I would have been impressed even more if I hadn't seen the report that the local farmers around Beijing had their water diverted so that Beijing could look lush and lovely. The farmers were left to scratch in the dust and try to grow some kind of food. It was going to be pretty much impossible.
So China was more concerned over how things looked rather than the health and welfare of their own people. I guess that shouldn't be so surprising as they have ignored human rights for a very long time. I sure would have been way more impressed if they made sure their people would be fed first and then made a show that was less spectacular. That would have been impressive!!