For those of you who have had the opportunity to witness the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games (I am watching them now), this truly is a historical event. The precision, choreography and artistry are absolutely incredible. The reason I thought about writing about this tonight had nothing to do with the fact that I am floored by a 500 foot LCD screen there in the stadium (A-Ma-Zing!!!!) but, rather what the Chinese people chose to have as their theme…..their History.
So, I suppose before I begin on the whole History matters thing, I should point out, that both paper and writing originated in China so, for those facts alone, I should be so incredibly grateful to the Chinese people and culture…without them, I would be lost.
Documenting our thoughts and events of today will be tomorrow’s history. The actions and stories, and amazing things we choose to document, will be the records and texts generations from now will study. We learn from our past and, in many ways, it really defines our understanding of the future (we try not to repeat past mistakes and replicate the things that seemed to work.)
As the various Countries going marching across our television, our kids are busy trying to find them on the map of the world hanging in our living room. They are seeing the faces of the world as smiling people waving their national flags and swelling with pride. They see men and women who have dedicated their lives to training to be the best at what they do as to leave their mark on the timeline. History is not about the words on the page, it about the people that were written about and preserved for posterity.
Take a peek over at Boston.com (where I snagged this picture) for some truly spectacular images.
