Indulge me while I display a bit of patriotism here. As I sit pecking away at this column, Santa Maria has two athletes participating in the Olympics, and I couldn’t be prouder of the Central Coast right now.
Karlos Balderas, won his first two Olympic boxing matches, and as of press time was set for the quarterfinals. Swimmer Josh Prenot was set to participate in the semifinals and finals on Tuesday, Aug. 9, and Wednesday, Aug. 10. Both will compete with their hometown community anxiously watching.
It’s an incredible thing to see a community bond together in pride during a time when there is so much division.
There has been increasing tension in this country—more than I can remember there having been in my lifetime—and mostly over people who are different. Different skin color, different religion, differences in sexuality, and differences in political opinion even.
If you deny the tension, you are part of the problem. In Santa Maria alone this division is marked, much like the Olympics, by flags. The United States flag. Raiders, Chargers, Packers, 49ers flags. LBGTQ flags. Military flags. There are immigrants flying their country’s flag, while there are people in an Orcutt parking lot flying the Confederate flag and daring anyone to so much as send a sideways glance. Division people!
Yet during the Olympics we seem to come together under one flag. Right now we’ve got two Santa Maria athletes, from very different backgrounds sharing the Olympic spotlight in our community. That’s why I love the Olympics: because suddenly we become Americans again.
I was flying around one Sunday afternoon when I dropped into a local club to catch a little of the games. There was a gentleman sitting next to me. His name was John, and because he is a private non-public figure and assumed that he was talking to a private non-public figure, and not a reporter, I won’t divulge his last name. We mused about how great it must be to be a gold-medal athlete, but wondered why you would want to give up so much in pursuit of one thing.
Then John said something significant. He said that people should do the best they can with what they have, be it money or physical genetics, and the limitations therein. He said that people shouldn’t take for granted what they’ve got adding, “I’m just happy to have been born in the U.S. at this period of time.”
Boom!
If I was cheesy enough, I’d insert a mic drop right here, but I won’t because that’s so 2015.
Nonetheless I thought about the events in the world right now and how disturbing things are in so many countries. You could be standing in a massive food line in Venenzuela, or you could be a Syrian refugee crossing dangerous seas to get to somewhere that you hope will give you sanctuary. Or a Mexican fleeing the murderous crime spree spearheaded by drug lords.
Recently while at a grocery store I saw a man, whose country of origin I won’t assume to know, but I guessed he wasn’t a citizen. He hurried past me carrying two plastic bags in his hands. He left his toddler behind and dove head first into a trash can next to the entrance fishing out plastic bottles and aluminum cans.
I thought about what John said.
Yeah, being a citizen of the United States is a pretty darned blessed thing.
The Canary is proud to be an American. Send her framed cross-stitchings of the Pledge of Allegiance at canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 11-18, 2016.
