I'm conflicted

On the one hand; I'm just not too pleased about these Olympics that we are hosting. One of the positives to come out of the games was increased housing for low income, and the homeless. This seems to have gone out the window with the high cost of the games (what with going over budget in almost everything...)

The advertisements telling me that the best way to show my support is to chew the gum that has a maple leaf emblazoned on the outer shell. The ones that tell me that the only way to support our athletes is through the purchase of the sponsor's products is a little sickening. And all the billboards and transit ads asking me "Do You Believe?" make me want to just yell out "NO!" out of a sense of rebellion. Don't even get me started on the Environmental factor. How green can these games be when they are transporting truck load after truck load after helicopters loaded with snow to one of the event sites?

On the other hand, how cool is it that there will be so many people from so many places around the world, here? We have a friend who is working for the games; for as long as we have known her, she's been working long hours and grueling days getting ready for the next few weeks. Knowing how much she's put into the games makes it hard to be completely against them.

Then, there's the really awesome art that's displayed around town. I have a friend (well I know a guy I graduated with, and I keep in contact through Facebook) who has some of his work displayed around the city. The library has some really cool installations that we enjoyed looking at and being a part of, and we're looking forward to taking part in some of the other cultural events, and seeing the flame make it's way through our neighborhood. It's kind of exciting.

And the Peanut is seeing all the activity, and the Mascots and talking about the games. As far as she's concerned though, the Olympics are the cartoon that the Mascot's are featured in to promote the games.

So, how do I explain what the games are and how they great and how they are negatively affecting the place that we live in to her? It's hard not to get excited when we see her eyes light up at the sight of Sumi and Miga (she's not to sure about Quatchi). What we want is for her to retain her innocence and at the same time we want her to look at the world and see that there social issues that need to be resolved. We want her to have some empathy for her world and the people in it. We want her to question and to want to make a difference. That's a lot to want for a three year old.