Olympic Chance “Let’s replace wars with friendly athletic competition!”, - said the wise Delphi oracle, when King Ifitos of Elis turned to him for an advice. As the legend says, this was how the Olympic Games were invented. No one knows if this story is true or not, but the fact is that the Olympic Games turned to be a real means to establish peace in Greece. The Olympic Truce was the agreement to stop the wars during the Games. Even the most furious warriors put their weapons down to celebrate the harmony of human’s beauty, strength, intelligence and nobleness. Ancient Greeks took the Olympic Truce seriously for 1200 years! That helped to save many lives as well as Greek’s cultural achievements, which later became the base to the modern civilization. Now I ask myself if it is possible to make full use of the Olympic Truce to save todays civilization. Unfortunately, the serious approach to the Olympics and the Truce changed at modern era. Although world’s society managed to revive the Games, it was not ready to implement the Truce. People didn’t want to stop their wars because of the Olympics anymore. Moreover, they wanted to stop the Olympics because of the wars! We didn't have the Games in 1916, 1940 and 1944 because of the World Wars I and II. Today we are lucky to live in the world without global wars. But when I turn on my TV-set, I can still see death, weapon, ruins, wounded men, crying women and hungry children in different hot spots on the Earth. I also see intolerance and hatred, which are not so spectacular on the TV-screen, but still affect badly thousands of lives. London Olympic Games are on the way. Can they be a starting point for stopping the conflicts forever? Isn’t it the best time to recall the tradition of the Olympic Truce? Isn’t it an opportunity to show ourselves that we are strong enough and can be more kind, more feeling and tolerant? I think, it is. Greeks used the Olympics as the way to unite their separated cities. As the Games are now global, let's take a chance to unite the world for peace, love and brotherhood! Anastasia Polonska Form 10 A School # 5 Monastyryshche
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