Tonight I was at a long table among Olympians. Remember when a local boy won a medal in boxing and then went on to become not a “sports professional” but a lawyer? Willie deWit, now a Justice of the Court of King’s Bench, is living out the old “have a well rounded life” ideal of the Greek Olympics. The Greeks had a longer version of our admonishment to “get a life!” They said, “Not life, but a good life, is expected of every citizen.”
Hence the Greek olympics always included an arts festival. Actually, our modern games do so too, but somehow you never hear about it.
Maybe the old Greeks, eternally vigilant to keep their liberty, thought that winners, aka folks with good round lives, were less likely to appease their craving for glory by following a dictator. But hey, I can’t call everyone in a red MAGA hat a loser, since I’ve never met one. I’ll just say that on TV they look like non-winners.
Tonight I was among rappers, solo singers, guitarists and another Sean, who played violin for us. Each “had a life” that included music, without giving up their daytime life. At tonights Open Mic, (rophone) because it is organized weekly by Babba, folks knew each other’s names, feeling good camaraderie. An eleven year old boy sang Aerosmith’s Dream on. A young woman sang Stevie Nick’s Dreamer (I keep my visions to myself). When she sang Kate Bush’s Army Dreamers I looked down with my eyes closed. The poet next to me, who brought a key board last week, brought his guitar tonight and did spoken word poetry. Also, he made sketches of people. Call him well rounded.
Enjoying my red wine and everyone’s good cheer, I knew that ordinary folks can have a good life, an olympic life, all year round.
God save the King.
…
Epilogue … …As for the sporting Olympic Games, here are links to old essays I ran when the Olympics were not on, in August 2021
More recently, I essayed about Russian athletes through a lens of fascist glory, a glory that assisted the Russian people to invade Ukraine:
Canada Versus the Orcs, 1972
… …
… …
Sean Crawford
Under Greek constellations
July
2024
