As I watched some of the opening ceremony for the Olympics at Sochi I couldn’t help but compare it to the 2010 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. We were awed by the precision and perfection of the Chinese during their opening ceremony. In the Sochi light show the fifth circle of the Olympic symbol did not change from a snowflake into a circle, which was surprising. As the aerial cameras captured the ice skaters who were skating in formation and making designs on the ice I could not help but think that they were not creating a smooth circular flowing motion, and that they were not evenly spaced apart from each other. It was very disappointing as figure skating is my favorite part of the winter Olympics.
The commentators appeared extremely biased towards Russia and communism. They are naïve in their understanding of communism, where everything is owned by the State. It would be interesting to find out if these commentators know the history of the Ukraine during the forced famine under Josef Stalin between 1932 and 1933. Private property was seized by the government and the landowners forced to work and farm the land, only to have the food taken from them and sent to European countries while they and their families were left to starve to death. They would be punished or killed if they were caught eating any of the food. Stalin used the money raised to further his Five Year Plan to transform the Soviet Union. As many as 25,000 people died daily at the height of the famine and it is reported some people even resorted to cannibalism.
One of the true freedoms we have in America is our ability to purchase and own property. Property ownership is what The American Dream was and is all about. On a personal note, the first of my ancestors to come to the Colonies in 1747 was given two hundred acres of land from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for his patriotic service during the Revolutionary War.
It is unfortunate that our schools are teaching that “collectivism” is superior to individual rights.” They are destroying the dream.
