A Gift to the World

The Lake Erie Olympics will be a gift to the world. We the hosts will give and we will expect nothing in return. That is the essence of hospitality and giving. Of course, the whole effort will provide jobs, will rehab Cleveland’s lakefront, and, with the building of the Cleveland Center for Intercultural Healing and Reconciliation, will transform Cleveland into a cultural capital. All of those benefits are also gifts, but one of the greatest gifts will be a new vision for the Olympics—seeing the Olympics as means to liberate the poor and to facilitate a cross-cultural conversation about the peace and development of the world.

If we see the Lake Erie Olympics only as a means of enriching ourselves and our friends, then our vision is clouded. We would then not be hosts. The USOC and IOC will sense that, and our bid will fail. We who are interested in hosting need to be trained in hospitality and I can think of no better mechanism for training than the spiritual exercises of each of our great traditions. Whatever your tradition, I am sure that each tradition shares the universal emphasis on charity, justice, and hospitality. We need to allow our traditions to train our hearts to beat with the sensitivity and grace of a host. Sensitivity is key. How many conflicts have started because someone was insensitive to the culture and perceptions of another? The various wars of religion among Catholics and Protestants in Europe were caused by the refusal of one culture to see the sanctity of the other culture. The evils of Communism were fueled by a totalitarian desire to see the world from one perspective.

Our movement will be different. It will celebrate diversity and live by the Teilhardian truth that unity differentiates. This is why I think that the Ignatian Innovation conferences that I thought would cross-fertilize the Lake Erie Olympic effort are still essential. We don’t have the time we once had to put all of this together this summer, but it still needs to happen. We can organize an Olympic bid first, and then put together the training programs to develop the sensitivity to foster intercultural healing and reconciliation. You cannot have one without the other-especially if we want to foster a conversation about how to host an Olympics in the Holy Land and in the Koreas.

We already have a foundation to build upon: our region hosts major sporting and cultural events. Whether it is for an Ohio State football game or the Cleveland and Akron symphony orchestras, we know how to host major events. We now just need to add intercultural sensitivity and the ability to listen to understand others. Kay Lindahl writes about the importance of listening to understand, rather than listening to agree or disagree. There is a major difference. In The Sacred Art of Listening, she writes that “the more we understand about one another, the less we fear. The less we fear, the more we trust. The more we trust, the more our hearts open to love one another.” In the same vein, Howard Gray, S.J. writes and speaks about the need to trust the experience of others. Denying another’s experience and what the other has learned from his/her experience cripples the relationship. Imagine what happens when members of warring communities are able to listen to each other’s experiences. There are already many movements who foster these kinds of dialogues. What the participants find is that they are similar, they share the same values, the feel the same pain, and they both really want peace. Imagine if we in northeastern Ohio learn to listen to the different traditions of the world so that we can host an event that will bring healing to the world. Imagine.

I am grateful for the time that you have spent reading this essay. Thank you for the gift you have given to me. Thank you for taking the time to read and to listen.