This summer marks 42 years since the Israeli Olympic team was taken hostage and murdered in the Munich summer games in 1972. It will be 18 years since a backpack exploded at the Atlanta games, killing two and injuring 111.

It’s been a little more than eight months since bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon, killing and maiming.

With that grim toll in mind, it’s time to celebrate what’s supposed to be good about humankind, with the Olympic spirit awakened during the Winter Games of Sochi, Russia, Feb. 7-23.

It is with trepidation that the world approaches these games, given the ongoing terrorism in the region — though still hundreds of miles from President Vladimir Putin’s “ring of steel” security clampdown on Sochi.

Now is not the time for old divisiveness to resurface. …

The interests of two powerful nations that had led the world in decades past can join and bring the power of Russia and the United States to work for the common good of all.

And that would be the best tribute to the spirit of the Olympics, to the desire of men and women to peacefully compete while representing their countries, to be proud and competitive but not at war.

 

The Marietta Times