Streams of Mercy

The 32nd Summer Olympics came to a close in Tokyo. “We did it – together!” the president of the International Olympic committee said. “Together we faced the crisis of the pandemic. Together we fought to overcome it. Together the world’s athletes competed for glory. Together we watched them strive to deliver the performance of a lifetime. And together, their strength and resilience inspired us … This year’s competition showcased the very essence of the Olympics: a celebration of peace, of potential and of humanity.”

Some things I will always remember: the many colors of the human family and their national flags; the beauty of the human body and the wonderful things it can be called upon to do; the spirit of cooperative competition and mutual encouragement; the moving life stories of the athletes competing there- especially the one challenging us to “start your impossible”; the commercials that spoke of so much more than products to be sold; the back home celebrations we were able to enjoy; the celebration of winning and the agony of defeat; the resiliency of the athletes and the games, a year late in coming, and to an empty stadium, with the whole world watching; the beauty of the surviving trees in the Hiroshima garden that remain a powerful symbol of life after atomic blasts- symbols of hope and peace and living together in harmony. Truly we found a way to come together in real and lasting ways in Olympic games never to be forgotten!

During the weeks of the Olympics, I was reminded of the song “We Are the World” from the year 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and released by the supergroup USA for Africa to help raise money for famine relief in Africa, and it was remade again in 2010 after the earthquake in Haiti.

I was teaching third grade that year, and remember the song being sung by the Elementary Chorus that spring. In many ways it became the school’s theme for that year. I can still see the faces of those little mountain children singing this song from their hearts of behalf of their much larger human family, connected in their caring and concern, to a world many of them would never see.

Remember these words:

There comes a time

When we heed a certain call

When the world must come together as one

There are people dying

Oh, and it’s time to lend a hand

To life the greatest gift of all.

We can’t go on

Pretending day by day,

That someone, somewhere soon make a change

We’re all a part of God’s great big family

And the truth, you know, love is all we need.

We are the world

We are the children

We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let’s start giving

There’s a choice we’re making

We’re saving our own lives

It’s true we’ll make a better day, just you and me.

“We are the world … we’re all a part of God’s great big family … and love is all we need.” That love must show itself in tangible ways as together we “lend a hand, to life, the greatest gift of all … We’ll make a better day – just you and me”

… and you and me and you and me and you and me … May we keep working together for that brighter day.

Elizabeth