Pope Leo | Nine Cent Girl

This week, across the globe, citizens are coming together with eyes on Italy. Not to argue politics or report disasters but to celebrate Olympians, who, despite odds, are showing what is possible on snow and ice, in wind and storm, with or without cheering crowds.

American’s are stealing our hearts not only by grabbing the gold, but through their dignity in defeat. After her horrendous fall, the skier Lindsey Vonn, told us she has “no regrets” and goes further to remind us “the only failure in life is not trying.” After his free skate Ilia Malinin acknowledged he “blew” it, but added, “You learn more from failure than you do from winning.” Their courage inspires the whole of us.

Oh, how we need this coming together. The six rings form into one fabulous symbol to remind each one of us what resilience and passion looks like. What camaraderie looks like. What hope looks like. What global unity looks like. And it’s joyous to watch!

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There have been plenty of words this week, trailing around, in and out of my head. I will not lie, many of them are frightening. Like when Trump said, “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military National Guard,” (abc news). And by dangerous, he included Portland, OR, which for anyone who has visited recently seems to be more absurd than just about anything he has said to date. In fact, “Portland has more than 100 miles of neighborhood greenways in every part of the city” and is a cyclist’s paradise filled with safe, beautiful paths and low-speed streets (portland.gov). (Just check out their beautiful airport– I swear you will never leave!) Trump’s lies that get pumped out as echoing sound bites are certainly the work of some legendary marketers, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is indeed a lying felon.

Thankfully, there were other words that spoke to me this week for which I am glad.