Yep, the real beauty that sings to our souls, in colors, texture, tones and rhythms beating on - they are all imperfect. Really. Ancient Asian wisdom was to make the most beautiful object and then mar the perfection just the tiny bit. For one would never want to compare their best work with the best of the Heavenly Hosts', would they? But in everything, I look upon or walk through or listen to - is not perfect in anything, except in the feeding of my soul.
The Olympics started as the celebration of competition, as a celebration of the best man could perform - for the benefits of the gods? well, I am cynical enough to believe that there would be ample rewards from people that just loved touching champions, and being able to say that they feasted the victory celebration. For the athlete - well, they are there to do their best, it is personal.
I was stationed in Seoul, Korea as they were hosting the Olympics and the world's best. I only wanted to see the baseball game between Japan and the US, and I am sure that I would have been released from duty to go - but I didn't. It would have been etched in my memory forever, it is anyway, but being there would have been so cool. Before the regular Olympics they host the Olympics for the others. We, my battalion, got to host and brief some of the competitors. The briefings are always about why we, America and the United Nations, are still in Korea, what we guard and how it is going. I sure talk too much, but I wanted the competitors to know about us and I was interested in them. Remember I was still doing road races and ROK Ranger training, still young enough to like competing, old enough not to sink everything I had into winning it all.
Anyway, the two younger than I ladies, were beautiful and intelligent (and nice enough not to yawn in boredom as I laid layers of Asian, Korea and the military mind upon them). I asked serious questions of them and their training and their competitive goals. I loved some of the answers, because I hadn't thought that they would cut back on alcohol for lack of normal body volume that other women would have, I would pass it off as being in training. I was glad my official duties got me to talk and meet them - I still remember being awed to speechlessness in the Nam on my firebase when the Miss America contestants flew in for our happiness... both, meetings were once in a lifetime, and I am better for them. The ladies I was briefing went on to compete in the 1988 Summer Paralympics, they did just fine.
We, as a human race and current culture, keep putting people in various boxes and we seem totally uncomfortable around those that 'aren't like us'. So why would God and the angelic hosts have any time to spend, or power to waste on creatures that pose as a little better than apes? And worse, acting at sub primate community badness? The apes will cast out a danger to the tribe. Oh, silly me, I forget that God's entire purpose in His life was our creation - to mar the perfection of the Universe that He has made... and offer the salvation and the way to His love and glory. We can do it, we just have to have the passion to compete, the training to improve and the encouragement of those that love us with all our faults to become better and truly beautiful.
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