Sunday, February 21, 2010

February 21, 2010

Last night I was watching the Olympics on the telly. Since there was nothing else to watch I had to suffer through the three runs of the two man bobsled races.

Unless they turn over on the ice and they skid and slide their way down this is one of the most boring activities in Vancouver.

Compared to this or any kind of bobsled racing even curling is more exciting. Bobsledding is not a sport at all. Look at the way those people looked like. With their pot bellies in those skintight suits they looked absolutely disgusting.

Sport is defined as an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature...

I don't know which category bobsledding falls under. Also, in my mind any kind of sport that is being practiced at the Olympic Games should be available to any aspiring young person. I can see skiing, hockey and ice skating being available to whomever because there are ski resorts and ice skating rinks all over.

But bobsledding doesn't fall into this category. I can not see a young boy or girl growing up and saying he or she wants to be a bobsledder.

Might as well be a golfer. Lately it seems to be more fun!

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After the Olympic broadcast I started to watch a movie which I found very interesting and moving.

It was made in 1988 and its title was "Gorillas in the Mist". It was the story of Dian Fossey who spent a better part of her life studying and protecting the mountain gorillas in Africa.

I vaguely knew the story although never saw the movie itself. The story was riveting. Not only because I do love animals but the acting, the scenery, the gorillas in the film were fascinating.

I read up about her entire story and found that the movie was pretty close to the actual events.

This woman spent eighteen years of her fifty-three years studying, befriending and protecting them from poachers and extinction in the mountains of Rwanda.

At the end she was brutally killed right there in her camp. She paid with her life for doing what she believed in.

What really moved me was the unselfish act by someone who did not expect to benefit and profit from her beliefs.

There are some people, very few, who are really driven by their convictions to do good for the world. These people deserve all the respect we can stow upon them.

The sad thing is that animals deserve these good deeds more than people. Animals are honest, they don't lie and cheat and they are grateful for the smallest kindness shown towards them.

Humans unfortunately don't posses these traits.

Even our leaders whom we supposed to trust come in waving the carrot stick front of us but at the end they take it away and make us pay if we really want to taste it.

Dian Fossey was not driven by views of fortune or Dow Jones averages. She gave up her cushy lifestyle in America and went to live in the wilds of Africa where the gorillas were more appreciative than her human brethren.

This world needs more people like her and than it might be a better place to live in.

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