Aug 11 2008
Drums, Pistons, and Oars
The opening ceremony of the Olympics…WOW! That was the most impressive show I have ever seen. Thousands of people in coordinating movements putting on the show of shows. Amazing. Fireworks on top, next to and throughout the city. Stunning. The countdown of lights. Cool. 2008 coordinated drummers. Powerful. It made me consider the force of a million man army. What appeared at first to be a giant mechanical moving sculpture turned out to be operated by coordinated human power. Absolutely fascinating. The kids thought it looked like the giant peg board at Uncle Howie’s children’s museum (St Louis Children’s museum to the rest of the world, but Uncle Howie’s museum to our kids). You can stick your face into the pegs and the impression stays until someone makes a new one. The pistons reminded me of the sculpture exhibit at the National Gallery in Canberra that had a giant display of moving mechanical flowers. When the pistons turned out to be human and not mechanical, I was as surprised as the kids. The coordinated oars of the boat. Mesmerizing. Running around the top of the stadium hanging from a wire and lighting the cauldron with a sizzling giant wick. Awesome. When it was all over and the oohs and ahs of the kids and I stopped, all I could think was…What if? What would happen if China used all that money, all that creativity, all that hard work, and all that coordination for the betterment of the world. What would happen if their people could freely worship God and speak freely their beliefs? What could be accomplished if they set their mind to curing the diseases of the world, protecting the environment, and loving their neighbor. One of every 5 people is Chinese. Wow. “Don’t look at the man behind the curtain.” The great and powerful Oz can put on quite a show. Yet our brothers and sisters in Christ are imprisoned and martyred there every day because they dare to stand up to all that power and might and say, “Jesus Christ is my Savior.”
Mugs, you’ve heard the one about the child in the hospital seeing his younger sibling for the first time and surprised not to find a Chinese brother, “because one in every five babies is Chinese.”
Glad someone likes the over-the-top, Cecil B. Demille production opening ceremonies have become. Elena finds the Giant Stilt Puppet People somewhat unsettling.
On a back-to school haircut note, I am always reminding El that “people pay good money for curly hair like yours.” And is there something in the Iron Range that curls one’s hair? The hair sported by yourself and your and Dale’s offspring remind me of the locks of one Robert Allen Zimmerman.