If you are watching the news these days you will see that there are many people who are anti-Olympics. To me, that seems very surprising. Why would someone be against the Olympics? How can a person be anti-Olympics? Are they anti-sports? Are they anti-International meetings? Are they anti-international communication and anti-international friendship?
I know that many people are very worried about the corona virus and the deep impact that COVID 19 has in the world. It is true that many people had a lot of damage to their lives because of the corona virus. We are continuing to live in a corona world, but a vaccine is coming. We all hope it will come soon. Maybe many things will change after a vaccine comes for corona.
But now, many people are unhappy about Japan being the host for the Olympic Games. I see many comments on the Internet about “boycotting the Olympics” or “cancel the Olympics”. Those comments make me a little sad.
The Asahi Shimbun published a story in March about the feelings many countries have about the Olympic Games. The report says that in Thailand, 95.6% of the people think that the Olympics should be cancelled or delayed. In South Korea 94.7% of regular people feel that the Olympics should be cancelled. China is at 82.1% for cancelling and America is at 74.4% in favor of cancelling.
I watched the news the other day and it seemed that many older people in Japan also want to cancel the Olympic Games. There are many unhappy protesters who also believe we should cancel the Olympics.
But one thing that is very interesting is that most athletes and professionals who will fight in the Olympic Games do not want to cancel. There are thousands of professional athletes who have trained for many, many, many years for a chance to be in the Olympic Games. I think that most athletes want to be in the Olympics. Maybe that is the best reason for the games to continue.
We have learned that the organizers for the games are doing everything possible to keep athletes safe from the corona virus when they come. There are very few people who can watch the games in person, but we will all watch on TV or the Internet anyway.
And there is one very important reason that the games should continue in Japan. The reason is that Japan agreed to be the host for the Olympics. The nation of Japan decided that it would take the big job and the huge responsibility to be the host for the world for these games.
It would be easy to quit. It would be easy to cancel. It would be easy to make an excuse. It would be easy to say, “Ah, well… the corona virus is a huge problem so we decided not to be the host.”
Quitting is easy. Keeping a promise is very difficult.
From my eyes, I think that these Olympic Games will be damaged by the corona virus. The experience will be very different. But the most important thing is that the nation of Japan did not break a promise, and did not cancel their responsibility to be the host for these games. Many people might be against the games now, but after the games are completed I believe that all countries in the world will say, “Thank you” to Japan for not cancelling.
Maybe we can all learn something important from this experience. Many times it is easy to quit. It is easy to break a promise. It is easy to cancel a plan. But it takes a lot of guts to continue when conditions are hard. It takes a great character and pure heart to do your best in any situation.
This year I will watch as much of the Olympics as I can. I want to support the great effort of Japan to make the Olympic Games come. The big test is coming for Japan, and I believe that your country will pass this test very easily, and that the whole country can feel proud and grateful for the great work. There is a good reason why Japan is so unique and special in the world, and the response to the hard words of “Cancel the Olympics” makes it very clear why Japan is a very important place in the world.