Olympic Magic to Emulate

The Olympic Games, which opened last Friday, are now in full swing, with athletes from all over the world trying their best to outdo each other and win medals for their various countries.
Rare is the nation that is not represented at the Games … and one of the outstanding benefits of holding the Olympics every four years is that it provides the most excellent opportunity for interaction between the countries of the world, even those that, in normal times, regard each other as enemies.
One of the most remarkable examples of this phenomenon – with regard for these particular games … and which should be of singular interest to us here in St. Lucia – is the participation of Taiwan at games being held in China.
Countries all compete as sovereign states, their national pride to the fore, on this most-watched world stage and lock horns with each other in their quest for supremacy in each of the disciplines that their athletes participate.
We are all well aware of the bitter wrangling that has been taking place between Mainland China and Taiwan ever since the latter decided to seek independent status by breaking away from the former. One would have thought, as a matter of principle, that if there were to be one country that China would refuse to give recognition, within its borders, as a sovereign nation, that country would be Taiwan, which the Chinese still regard as one of their provinces.

Here in St. Lucia, we have seen, at close quarters, the depth of ill-feeling that the two have toward each other, not even willing to coexist in the same environment. Their sentiment of antagonism in each other’s regard has even permeated and spread among our own people, who have taken sides, with strongly expressed preferences for one or the other of the two factions.
Too many of us have chosen to nurture within us the antagonistic feelings we have adopted from the Chinese/Taiwan tussle that was being played out here on our soil, to the extent that supporters of the one side would not be caught dead (or would not be tolerated at) a function organized or being held by the other. For in general, our preference for one or the other is strongly influenced by our affiliation to either of the two main political parties that exist here.
Yet here we see the two entities, for whose sakes we are willing to get at each others’ throats, engaged in friendly competition … and what is more remarkable, the Taiwanese are respected and made to feel welcome by the Chinese, on Chinese soil.
Surely there must be a lesson that we St. Lucians can learn from this and think twice before we set upon an SLP supporter who shows up at a UWP rally – or vice-versa? If the Chinese and Taiwanese, who have used every method possible to prevail against each other: at the United Nations; in competition to gain support from as many individual countries as possible, by establishing diplomatic relations to the exclusion of the other; by aggressively promoting their separate ideologies on the world stage; by any means possible … can accept each other as equals for these two weeks:
Then it is time we wake up to the futility and unreasonableness of promoting and propagating the sentiment of hatred and antagonism that we seem to want to hold on to, on a constant basis, in this tiny country of ours.