China

It's fun to see China host the Olympics. This is kind of their coming out party. Some thinkers I'm usually in agreement with, take a cynical stance on China's involvement ---their hypocrisy, human rights, censorship etc. I don't think, as a nation, we're in any position to cast stones.

And their publicity can mean more than one thing.

It gives China a chance to raise visibility of their culture and people to the world in a media stage of unparalleled international scope.

A stage about competition, sure, but the competition of play. Which is where we need to get to, as a planet.

This hatred, mistrust and arrogance about cultures outside our little flash-lights of experience in the large universe shouldn't be something we react to from fear but with a mind and heart that wants to understand more, to be more, than the slice of our historical milieus and the stamp of our geographical coordinates. Those are the least important aspects of our journeys as a species, as a people and as individuals.

So yeah, let's use every opportunity to explore ways to understand, without having to all be the same. And part of that is getting to know the parts of wonder and expression that exist in the best parts of another culture ---those that inform its highest ideals--- without having to judge or justify them against our own. To have this feeling is what I think it is to be a citizen of the world and child of the universe. So dazzle us China, you're an awesome people.