Initially, we see these silly indicators such as skin color and accents and funny customs, and we quickly judge because we just don't know anything else. But when a Russian player lands a perfect somersault and screams with elation, you'll see a human side that will move you a little closer to realizing we're not all that different.
That's what Yao Ming understands. We've gone from seeing him as a spectacle to seeing him as another NBA player we can criticize for whatever NBA players are criticized for, a player we can understand as a quiet and nice person like those we encounter in our own lives. He's not just the amusing character sitting next to Mini-Me in an Apple commercial.
If anything, we understand the Chinese just a bit better because of Yao Ming. We realize that the one billion people who make up their country are not some mysterious, strange group of humans we're pitted against. They are the people we work with, play with, talk to.
Their government, their factories? Perhaps another matter. But understanding the people is a whole other ballgame. You don't want to be lumped into the same category as George Bush, do you?
Yao Ming told the Houston Chronicle something that all people should realize. "I think back to when they started the modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. It was a beautiful idea to put people together again, to make friendship and share the honor and share everything. [The Ancient Greeks] stopped wars for the Olympics. They laid down their arms for the Games. Right now, war looks like a part of our life in this world. But hopefully, no wars, no bombs, no gunshots in those three weeks of the Olympics. Maybe it is a dream. It is my wish."
He understands what the Olympics mean. If anything, when we think about viewing China negatively, we should think of Yao. Then maybe we'll realize we should direct our disgust at the Chinese government, not China. That's the sort of realization that just his presence can foster.
When we see the Chinese competing in a sport, I hope we have no tinge of frustration towards them. I hope that protesters don't jeer at them and wave their signs towards them. Not towards the athletes. Not towards the fans. That's not right. That's ignorant.
Politics will show its face, and perhaps rightfully so. The crisis in Sudan is a frightening and disgusting one. Maybe they should pop up. Maybe there should be protests here and there, on this grand stage.
But what I'm hoping for through this article is that they do not dominate, that they do not rule the headlines every morning. Let the athletes rule the headlines.
Where all of the protests and petitions and threats against the Chinese government have miserably failed over the last decade, sports themselves might prevail. Why? Because bewilderment + exposure = obvious.
When in our time do we get to do something like this? When do we get to revel in the purity of cultural immersion, bridged borders, and triumph? When does the news get dominated by celebrating the power of human resolve? Where can so many hands shake that would otherwise never shake?
That's the power of sports, of these Olympic Games. It has the power to bring people together, to foster peace, and once upon a time, to stop wars. What else has had the power to stop wars?
Maybe it'll happen again some day. Until then, let's not do it the other way around. Let's not stop sports for wars.
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