The Olympics have been over now for almost two weeks now. The excitement of competition is mostly passed. TV schedules have mostly returned to their normally scheduled drudgery, and those of us who tuned for the whole two weeks have mostly gotten back to life as usual.
While the games may be over and soon to be forgotten, by and large, from popular consciousness, I think that the Olympics serves as an important reminder of the type of characteristics and traits that Western society could use a lot more of, namely, self-restraint and self-denial.
Now, before you think this is going to be a depressing pessimistic rant, know that on the whole, I’m not some crotchety old man who thinks society is screwed and that we’re all going to hell in a hand basket. Quite the contrary. While I’ll be the first to tell you that we’ve got some major challenges to face up to across a whole spectrum of issues, I firmly believe that overcoming challenges is the foundation of human success.
So what does this have to do with the Olympics?
When training for an Olympic event, athletes are required to put a tremendous amount of time and effort into their respective sports. They have to practice and sacrifice (financially, physically and otherwise) for their dreams. The challenges they face are not only physical, but mental too, and our Olympic athletes, from the strongest podium contenders to the lowliest, barely-qualified competitors, are testaments to dedication. Olympic athletes work hard chasing their dreams, even if years of training means a last place finish.
In Canada, there has been a great deal of hand-wringing and self-criticism over the “Own the Podium” (“OTP”) Program. This funding program was set up in part by the Canadian Olympic Committee in order to provide special funding to high-performance Olympic athletes in order to help push them over the top and seek Olympic victory. Hell, OTP even set as a goal that Canada could win the most medals at the Olympics. Now, as it turns out, Canada didn’t win the most medals; it did, however, win the most gold medals at a Winter Olympics ever, both by any country and a host country.
But what’s wrong with setting a high standard? Ask any self-help expert worth their salt and they’ll tell you that goal-setting and failing are all part and parcel of striving for success.
The problem as I see (and maybe one of the reasons that the Olympics, in a weird way, are so popular) is that the contrast between the traits and characteristics required to be an Olympic champion and those that dominate in our everyday Western lives is staggering.
Where Olympic athletes live in a universe of hard work, sacrifice and delayed gratification, for the most part Western society thrives in a culture of immediate gratification. These aspects of our collective personality are not just personal or cultural traits. Their influence and impact spills over into the political realm as well: politicians who seem unconcerned about the future of the environment, or coming to terms with massive financial debts – delaying action is just another form of immediate gratification, and quite the opposite of the Olympian ideal.
The current financial crisis is a prime example of the immediate, short-term thinking: people buying mortgages at rates they won’t be able to sustain in the future, or buying products on debt they cannot afford.
In years past, people who did not have the money to purchase a big screen TV simply lived without one. In the ethic of the modern day and age, the things that were once viewed as luxuries that could be dispensed with have transformed into ‘rights,’ and a system to ensure that you can purchase these items (on credit, which you may never well repay) was developed to go along with it.
The solution to this isn’t revolutionary. We simply need to get back to a simpler frame of mind, one where people take responsibility for their own problems, live within their own means, and work hard for what matters in their lives.
So here’s my challenge: be an everyday Olympian. Try to be the gold-medalist of being nice to the people around you. Own the Podium of eating healthy and exercising. Be the champion of living a financially prudent life.
While the Olympics only happens every four years, the dedication, tenacity and spirit that drives our athletes shouldn’t have to wait that long.
