The curtain came down last night on perhaps the greatest of the Olympic Games in Paris.

It was 100 years since the city last hosted the sports extravaganza that it had been the birthplace of in terms of renewed inspiration and administration.

In an ever more fragmented world, it brought us together in a way that few if any gatherings can ever dream to achieve.

In so many ways it is the very best of us.

In parts of the world, and not very far from home, war still raged, hatred still spewed and the differences that are part of what we are as humans were still held up as a way to divide us.

But in Paris, we came together to celebrate human achievement, under the banner of the flags of the world and with every race colour and creed, every system of belief, every way in which we see ourselves as unique given room to breathe.

Half of the world’s population will have tuned in at some point to these games, the strength and joy of a shared collective experience crossing borders and boundaries at the speed of light.

There were tears of joy and unbridled emotion in victory and in defeat, there was the celebration of a medal won by 84 different countries from the 206 National Olympic Committees that sent a team.

62 countries will be welcoming home an athlete with a Gold Medal, having proven themselves to be the best in the world in the discipline they have dedicated themselves to.

Ordinary human heroes now within their own countries, having achieved something extraordinary and serving as beacons of hope and inspiration to people who will see in them perhaps, something of what they need to achieve their own dreams.

It is not perfect, that is an essential part of being human that mistakes are made and things done in a way that could have been done better.

But sometimes we need to look up, to go higher, faster, stronger and together towards a common purpose that leaves us all stronger in spirit.

If we only look through jaundiced eyes we will see only the people that are left behind, We will see this as irrelevant when children are dying in war zones and others are persecuted while we party. hose feelings are right to be expressed but we also need to see the best of what we can be in order to redouble our efforts to get to that point in our own lives where we can say we did some good, we gave it our best shot, we made a difference.

In so many ways again, this was the best of us and can be so again, in a quick turnaround for the Paralympic Games in the same city and the same venues a little over two weeks from now, but also in our own moments when we worry that we can’t, but then remember that we can.

Very few of us can ever aspire to be Olympic Champions but it is within all of us to do things as well as we can, to reach out to those in need of a helping hand and to be the best that we can be in whatever our own field of endeavour is.

 

 

 

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