Imagine Lake Erie Olympism

Imagine the possibilities of the Lake Erie region. Just imagine. Rather than focusing on what we have lost, imagine new possibilities. This is the path to a renewed economy, to a new vision, to a new attitude about our lives. Imagination, the psychic “place” where the mind meets the future. Ignatian imagination, the human openness in which and through which God draws us into a future wholeness.

Imagination. The imagination bears fruit as we contemplate the future, but it is true that we also need to learn from past mistakes. Otherwise, we will repeat them. Our imagination helps us as we learn from the past. For example, we could imagine that we might have followed a better path and we could imagine what it was that urged us to make the mistakes that we made. Nevertheless, we produce even more fruit when, after briefly reflecting on mistakes made in the past, we open ourselves to live in the present by imagining the virtues of a better future. What does this mean for the Lake Erie region which is home to the two poorest cities in America—Detroit and Cleveland? What does this mean for Northeast Ohio, where I currently reside, a region I have grown to care about, a region with some of the brightest and most talented people in the world that paradoxically continues to lose jobs and industries to global competition? What does this mean for our world, in which the gap between the wealthiest and poorest continues to grow?

All of these questions occurred to me as I read a little book called Olympism, a 1996 publication by the United States Olympic Committee. Yes, Olympism. What could possibly be the connection between Olympism and the economic plight of the Lake Erie region? Well, for one thing, athletics has always been an important cornerstone of the Lake Erie region, especially in Northeast Ohio, the cradle of football. A few years ago, I found myself asking myself the following question: why can’t we intelligently harness this love of sports and develop something new? At the same time, I had been reading about the martyrdom of four American Church women, two of whom worked with the Cleveland diocese, as they protested against an oppressive regime in El Salvador. Love of sports, local intelligence, and a commitment to social justice—the three came together in two blog essays I published in November 2009. In those two essays (one of which was the reproduction of a letter I sent to the International Olympic Committee) I considered the possibility of developing a progressive Olympics—one that would help liberate the poor.

How then did my reading of Olympism bring me back to that blog? As I read, I was drawn to a passage that reflected the importance of imagination in Olympic training:

"The Greeks’ recognition that the care of mind and spirit were integral to athletic performance was an important part of the Olympic tradition. However, only in recent years did sports psychology and mental training in imagination reintroduce the view that mental and psychological attitudes were an important aspect of physical performance . . . .And so we are no longer surprised by the statement that ‘the more man’s thought communes with the divine harmony, the more spiritual, powerful and healthy he becomes,’ made by modern Greek anthropologist Theodore Papadakis, reflecting once more the spirit of ancient Olympism." (2)

Pondering how mental training in imagination improved athletic performance, I was drawn to a related question: how can mental training in imagination improve the social performance of the Olympic Games? For years now, the organizers of the Games have been criticized for neglecting the needs of the poor in host cities. In a parallel way, the makers of sporting uniforms and shoes have been criticized for paying workers in developing countries unfair wages. It is time to train our imaginations so that the Olympic Games maximize their social performance. In doing so, our thought communes with what Papadakis calls “the divine harmony.” Why is this so? In teaching how to commune with the divine harmony, all of the great spiritual traditions of the world emphasize the need for their adherents to be compassionate and to care for the poor. In the Christian tradition, we have developed the specific teaching of “preferential option for the poor,” which means that when one imagines various social alternatives, one chooses the alternative that most aids those with the most need. If the Games are truly a global celebration, then they need to invite and include all, especially and preferentially the poor and the vulnerable. Christians will understand this as the Olympic movement caring for the least of Christ’s brothers and sisters (Matthew 25). In order to abide by preferential option, the Games cannot force evictions of the poor from their homes, and they cannot take funds away from social programs by leaving host cities with overwhelming budget deficits which pressure host cities to cut social spending. Abiding by preferential option, the International Olympic Committee needs to encourage wealthy Olympic countries to help fund the training of athletes from poor countries. The IOC needs to abide by preferential option when choosing among candidate cities. That is, when faced with the choice between two cities with the capacity to host the Games, the IOC should choose the city most in need of development which can also demonstrate that its Olympic effort will not cause evictions of the poor from their housing.

So, let’s use our imaginations. Imagine the Cleveland Olympic Park, built on what is now Burke Lakefront Airport. Its construction would not force one person into homelessness. Imagine the Olympic torch, sitting in the midst of a fountain in the Lake, lighting up a blue collar city, a symbol of Cleveland’s desire for renewal and Cleveland’s interdependence with the poor of the Western Hemisphere. Imagine the Cleveland Center for Intercultural Healing and Reconciliation, a place of peace, a place where athletes and spectators from the entire world can meet to plan and discuss actions on behalf of global peace and justice. Imagine this center built next to the Cleveland Olympic Park so that people can visit and meditate and tour the art while they wait for the next Olympic event. Imagine that some of the topics participants will meditate about and discuss include the planning of an Olympics in the Holy Land, one that would unite Israelis, Palestinians, Egyptians, Saudi Arabians, Jordanians, Syrians, and the Lebanese. One of the goals of Olympism is the promotion of global peace. Imagine a global forum about peace in Cleveland, during the Games, attracting international attention. Imagine that at this forum we discuss the possibility of expanding and re-defining the Olympic truce by promising to award host city status to countries currently at odds with each other if they reconcile. Such an expansion might include North and South Korea co-hosting the games as a reward for unification and nuclear disarmament. Imagine bringing the Winter Games back to the Bosnian city of Sarajevo, helping the Bosnian people re-build and renew a beautiful Olympic city that has been scarred by war. There is so much more that we can imagine.

What can you imagine? Following the ancient Greek tradition of Olympism, we have successfully imagined paths to developing well-rounded individual athletes. Can we now imagine a path to a well-rounded global society? Share the fruit of your imagination: help plan the Lake Erie Olympics. Help renew the Olympic vision.