2010
02.23
Two Worlds, Share the Gold
A reminder: Share The Gold invites you to help link the worlds within our city by creating a human chain along Hastings Street on February 24th (4.45pm to 5.15pm). Meet at First United Church – 320 E Hastings Street at 4.30pm.Please wear a yellow scarf – or obtain one at First United at 4.15 pm.
This is some feel good activism to balance out some of the negative stuff that happened recently. The Olympics began as a way to affect social change for the benefit of nations and humanity at large. A way to improve peaceful relations and bring countries together in a fun and competitive way. Actually, to quote the Olympic Charter itself:
“Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.
In hopes of supporting the Olympic charter the following invitation is from Two Worlds, Share the Gold:
-The 2010 Olympics take place in Vancouver – where up to 300 homeless people sleep in a Church at First United. On the opposite side of the world in South Africa, the 2010 Soccer World Cup will be decided in Johannesburg – where 2000 Zimbabwean refugees sleep in Central Methodist Church. In both cases the world of those in the churches is far different from the world of the athletes in each city. Our challenge is to connect those worlds if we wish to be fully human – and if we wish to achieve the Olympic and Soccer World Cup objectives of bringing the world together. In Vancouver, the Olympics show us what we can achieve.We have raised billions of dollars, focused political will across 3 levels of Government and overcome massive obstacles. Some of us enthusiastically support the Olympics. Some of us intensely oppose it. But regardless of our perspective on this, we will need to move beyond the 2010 Olympics to address the olympian challenge of homelessness.
We will need to “Share the Gold” so that we can build off the achievements of the Olympics and lessons learned ,so that we can create a new Vanoc equivalent to focus political will and find the needed funding, and so that we can ultimately refocus the Olympic clock to count down the end to homelessness. If you believe we can and should “share the gold”, we invite you to wear gold (yellow). Together we can create a sea of gold that will move us from responsive compassion to proactive commitment in addressing the real challenges of our time. We respond with amazing generosity to events like those in Haiti. Let’s also respond (and be more proactive) in addressing the need on our doorsteps and in our own city. We can do this. We can end homelessness. The 2010 Olympics tells us we can make things happen when we want to. Please wear gold and tell the world and tell our leaders, that we want to. Together we can make this happen.
