Chronicle of a Stem Cell Transplant (and on through to the other side)

Monday, January 04, 2010

Five Ring Circus

2010.

Wow. I'm glad to see it but wish it hadn't been appropriated by the upcoming Olympics.

OK, I apologize in advance to a few of my dear friends with whom I do not see eye-to-eye on this with, and I was kidding (sort of) when I told you that if you were picked to carry the torch, aka "The Big Dube" (seriously, what were they smoking when they approved that design) that I'd run after you with a bucket of water and put it out. But, come on, does anyone still buy this "spirit of the Games" bullshit?

Are they really worth a legacy of decimated funding for healthcare, education, social programs, the arts and, ironically, amateur sports?

I had planned to be out of the country (OK, just Washington State) by the time this gong show officially arrives next month, but given the growing resistance and disdain of the Games by many Vancouverites, and the fact that I have treatment scheduled right in the middle of them, I'm thinking it might be interesting to stick around.

For example, I may just want to see if I can drive in the "priority" traffic lane set aside for IOC dignitaries and "elite" guests and athletes to see if I can get to the Cancer Agency any faster for chemo. After all, what should be deemed a priority, a cancer patient having access to a life-saving drug or an athlete getting to the Oval on time to ice dance? We shall see.

Or, I may wear a "non-celebratory" t-shirt downtown and see if one of the more than 17,000 police, security or armed forces guards, the largest security operation undertaken in Canadian history (the budget for which is climbing to nearly 1 billion dollars), will detain someone on chemotherapy.

But officer, I'm palliative...

The very act of demonstrating and marching in Vancouver has become a defiant act where many of the streets and sites are designated Olympic-only zones that are cloistered with bylaws that restrict speech, protest, and assembly.

Seems to me that when free speech is outlawed, we must raise our voices and shout.


Is it just me or does the dude on the right look a little stoned?