Theos-Talk Archives (July 2012 Message tt00073)

While our country is welcoming - in peace, if not in complete brotherly union - thousands of the finest specimens of our closest and dearest 200 friendly nations from around the world.... we hear also of the great suffering caused by the warring spirit in other places.

Friday 27th July: the Olympics were started in 1896 by a Frenchman and in this, its thirtieth incarnation in 2012, the following quote from G.K.Chesterton was said to be the guiding motif for the script writer of tonight's opening extravaganza:

"The world shall perish not for lack of wonders but for lack of wonder."

This is apt for our time as society is struggling to throw off "the dazzling and wonderful" and embrace a saner world, a world of the possible, of aspirations to leave behind adversarial politics and national envy and enmity, but to replace it with a real union of fraternity among modern nations.  The realisation is dawning that tanks, munitions and missiles have little legitimate place in today's world.

So not withstanding the sense of duality and egoism that comes from the extreme competitiveness of modern sport, no doubt many of the 11,000 competitors and billions of observers can see in a "game", as a simile on life, a way to a better future, one based on respect for others and a wholesome self-discipline in ourselves.

And on war? We hope these times will remain as a reminder that in 2012 the strongest and fittest of the world's nations came here in peace, with their weapons left behind.  For that we'll wait, watch and see.

Will
London UK