snatchel wrote:Touche, TAM.
I understand exactly where your coming from.
Here is where I compare this to:
If I were an Olympic athlete..... competing as a US citizen, and were to win a gold medal, you know what I would do? I would run around like a mad-man with the American flag. You can also bet your bottom that I'd be running around with a Texas flag too.
When I was in the military, I would wear a TX flag patch rather than a US flag. I got a whole lotta grief about it from others, particularly non-Texans. They never went so far as to call it un-American, but they did say that I should be representing the United States, not my state. I'm infinitely proud of my heritage as a Texan. It's a lifestyle and a privilege. In the end, i'm American.... but I'm a Texan first. I always thought that the uniform I was wearing was proof enough of my loyalty.
I'm not sure if y'all can see the parallel I am drawing from this, but I'm not sure I can put it into better words.
YMMV
Snatchel, I hear you, but I would add one salient fact. Last I checked, Texas is part of the USA. Mexico is not. If some swabbie from ConnectTheDots or Commiefornia is jealous of your Texas heritage, too bad for him.
If you had been wearing a patch bearing the state flag of Sinaloa or Oaxaca, that
would have been kind of offensive. And that is a closer parallel to what this kid did. He may not have meant anything by it, but that doesn't change the fact that our actions and words have consequences, sometimes out of proportion to what we're able to see at any given moment. My guess is that if he had reflected on it before he did it, he might have chosen discretion and not waved the Mexican flag. This is why, although there is nothing wrong with spontaneous good fun as long as nobody gets hurt, there are some things in life that are so momentous that they should cause us to pause and reflect a moment
before we take the next step—whatever that is. Winning a medal at the Olympics is one of those moments in life that is
that momentous. If this young man's gaff is the result of not taking such a pause, that would be a sign of immaturity. If he
did take such a pause, and he
still decided that celebrating with a foreign flag was the right thing to do, then I question his commitment to the nation that succored him.
The thing is service to the nation, and being an olympian are two very different things, even thought they both require commitment. An olympian does not make a covenant with the nation that sends him to give up his life if that is what is necessary. An olympian will know hard work to get there, but he will be celebrated, wined and dined, interviewed by the press, and made into a media darling. A soldier/sailor/marine/airman/coastie will give up long sleepless nights on watch, face many dangers, go to bed dirty and tired and not get enough sleep, hold a buddy's head and hands as he bleeds out, curse the service that sent him away, and kiss the ground when he returns home......on about half the pay that most of us make. The wife who sends her husband off to war may never see him again. The child who hugs her daddy when he leaves may grow up never having really known him. And all of that, ALL of it, is for what? It is for the chance be able to hold your head up and know that you did your duty. It's for the love of your country.
Maybe it's for the fun if you're a risk-taker, but it stops being fun when people die for real.
Olympians are but a pale reflection of that kind of glory. I give them their due, and they
earned it by being willing to put in the work to get there. But, not everybody can be that, and not just because they're not willing. On the best day I ever had, I could have never been a world-class runner. I've never been built for it. Even when I was in superb condition, I was slow. So being an olympian is also about being in an elite group of people. I don't know the total number of athletes from all nations that competed this year, but I think an estimate of 2,000-3,000 is probably reasonable. But even if it is double or triple that, the world population is about 6.5
billion, so it is a tiny tiny fraction of the best of the best of the best who make it to the Olympics.
But to join our military—and I say this with with the utmost respect—you don't have to be exceptional.....
except in the desire to serve, which is a rare enough trait. The military will take someone of average to maybe above-average physical condition (not olympians), and average to above-average intelligence and then shape that person into whatever the service needs them to be—teaching them along the way the skills they need to be a leader, to be dependable, to be skilled in their MOS...all of that. In other words, the military is something that is available to most of us (at the right age). The Olympics is not. The military is the "great equalizer." The Olympics is not. The military is an engine for opportunity for anybody who is motivated to take advantage of it. The Olympics is not. And when the person in the military musters out and returns to civilian life, unless they were born rich they will struggle financiall just like every other average American struggles. The olympian, OTH, will parlay their medals and fame into million dollar product endorsements and have their face on a Wheaties box.....so they are two very different worlds.
So it is indeed a very rare privilege to represent your country at an Olympics. In that light, wave your country's flag, not some
other country's flag.
YMMV as well.
How offensive; everyone on this continent is a descendant of an immigrant. The people who you refer to as native are descendants of Asians, who immigrated across the Bering land bridge.
