What The Olympics Can Teach Us (08-25-08)

Every year, the teachers at Hill City Grade School try to do something special the first day of school. Last year, they turned their classrooms into different nations, had the students create “passports” and then had them “travel” to visit different countries of the globe. This year, the teachers decided to honor the Olympics, by having each class become an Olympic team, complete with a banner and different flags to honor the nations at the games.

I was given the honor of carrying the Olympic torch. No actual flame was involved, but the paper towel tube covered in foil and sporting a yellow and red tissue-paper flame worked quite nicely. As torchbearer it was my job to go to each classroom, collect the “athletes” and lead them to the gym for the Hill City Grade School Opening Ceremony.

At each classroom, I asked the kids, “Olympic Champions, are you ready?” When they replied with an enthusiastic “Yes!” I told them to “Follow me to Olympic Glory!” By the time I had collected all the classes, we had quite the parade line, resplendent with banners held high and flags a-waving.

After we had done a couple of victory laps around the gym, everyone found a seat and I grabbed the microphone. I was dressed in a tracksuit with the Olympics rings taped to my back, and three medals swinging from my neck. I welcomed the kids and then proceeded to tell them a little about what the Olympics can teach all of us.

I began with my running shoes.. I had them think about all the races and all the miles covered by all the shoes of the Olympic athletes. The one thing that all those shoes had in common, I told them, was that they always took the athletes forward, and they always went towards the finish line one step at a time.

The school year is very much like a long race. So I challenged the kids that whenever they felt tired of school to simply look at their own shoes in order to remember to keep going forward, one step at a time.

I then turned around and pointed out the Olympic rings on my back. I pointed out that no Olympic ring stands alone, and that no student at Hill City Grade School stands alone. We are all connected, I announced, each one of us plays an important part in keeping the chain of school and family connected and complete, just like the Olympic rings.

Then I pointed to the three medals around my neck and told the students that these three types of medals can teach us a lot about how to live our lives. First, I pointed out that bronze is not a metal unto itself, but that it is formed by the combination of several metals, mainly copper and tin. Bronze teaches us that when you work together, our weaknesses can be turned into strength.

School can have the same affect of producing strength from weakness, if we learn the lesson of the bronze medal.

Silver teaches us all humility. Even though it can be shiny and beautiful, silver can also tarnish and become ugly. I asked the students to think about the times they felt tarnished and imperfect in order to make the point that no one is perfect. We all get tarnished from time to time.

However, like the silver metal, we also have the potential to shine. With a little love and care, we can all find our precious beauty. School can be part of that rejuvenation, once we learn the humility of the silver medal.

Finally, I held high the gold medal. Gold, I told the students, is one of the softest and most easily formed metals in the world. In can be shaped into just about anything, from the finest gold leaf to the heaviest gold statues. Thus, the gold medal teaches us to be flexible, to allow ourselves to be shaped and formed into something new. We enter school a golden bar of potential, and if we follow the lesson of the gold medal, we can leave school transformed and amazing to behold.

At this point I lifted the Olympic torch once more. This is light of truth and knowledge, I told our Olympic champions. It cuts through the darkness of ignorance and illuminates all those things that we both want to and need to know to find our way in the world.

All in all, it was quite a morning. I thank the teachers for planning such a meaningful event. I believe that the lessons of the Olympics will carry us through the next nine months and beyond.