We're Not Perfect.

You might have heard that some papers in the U.K. slammed the Vancouver Olympics. Here is an awesome reply, author unknown.....

We never claimed to be perfect; that means we've learned to be humble. We say "Excuse me" and "I'm sorry" as well as "Please" and "Thank you". Even when it's not our fault, we apologize. Sure, one arm of the torch didn't rise. But when the earthquake struck Haiti, Canadians raised their hands to say, "We'll help." And yes, there is a fence around the torch. But you can walk right up and shake hands with our Prime Minister and most famous Canadians. We put Gretzky in the back of a pick up, in the rain, not surrounded by police, and he was okay. And by the way, the great one is Canadian and HE wasn't complaining! We do have security at the games, of course, but most people don't even have a gun that they have to leave at home. The medals ARE under lock and key but our doors and our hearts are open to the world. It has been pointed out that some buses broke down last week. But let's not overlook the fact that our banking system didn't. We didn't get the "green ice maker" right this time but we will, eventually. Just like we did when we invented the Zamboni.

Citius Altius Fortius

If you don't reach higher how do you get faster and stronger? Was the first quad jump perfect? Should we never have given snowboarding to the world "in case" it didn't take off? So, big deal, one out of four torch arms didn't rise....good thing we had three more! It's called contingency planning! But remember, the Canadarm works every time in outerspace and insulin turned out to be okay! We couldn't change the weather but maybe we can help stop to global warming. We don't have the tax base of the US or the power of the Chinese but, per capita, we ponied up for some pretty kick-ass venues in the worst global recession ever. Sure, some folks couldn't afford tickets but our health care is universal. We have shown the world that we can raise our voices in celebration and song but moments later stand in silence to respect a tragic event....together....spontaneously and unrehearsed. What's more, we don't need permission from anyone to have a slam poet, fiddlers with tattoos and piercings and a lesbian singer tell our story to the world while our multilingual, female, Haitian-born, black head of state, Governor-General Michaele Jean, shares a VIP box with her First Nations equals. We've shown the world that it doesn't always rain in Vancouver. That you can strive for excellence but not get hung up on perfection. And we've learned what it feels like to be picked on by some no-name newspaperman and we don't have to take it lying down! So the point is not the snow, nor the hydraulics nor a couple guys being five minutes late for a ceremony. We know we're lucky that these are the biggest problems we've had to deal with in the last couple weeks. So take your cheap shots, Guardian newspaper and cynics of the world!

We're bigger and better than that. What's more we're finally starting to believe it!