In the Chinese calender, where each year is assigned one of twelve animals, 2008 was the year of the rat, the year of the most extravagant and well planned Olympics - staged by the collective consciousness of a great people, rightly proud of their culture and heritage.
Nevertheless, I think that the Chinese have picked the wrong animal, for ...
... it was the year when a little boy who played behind his father's grocery store in Trelawny became the first man to take a breather (and a leisurely backward glance) BEFORE reaching the finish line in the most spectacular display of athletic ability that this planet has ever witnessed.
... it was the year when a father saw his dream come to life as his son leapt nimbly onto a podium to be crowned the youngest ever Formula One World Champion.
... it was the year when life imitated Morgan Freeman as intertwining streams of humanity came together in time and space to bring 'Change to America', which would have been impossible to imagine a few decades ago, in a country with seemingly permanent fault lines along inconsequential borders of skin pigmentation.
... it was also the year when, far removed from all things glamorous and newsworthy, amongst the closed down docks of an old city of migrants, a man fought off his demons and clawed his way up to his dream of a job, to spend a lifetime seeped in the rhythms and murmurs of a few hundred grams of red meat ticking away in all of us.
Surely, 2008 was The Year of the Underdog.
Nevertheless, I think that the Chinese have picked the wrong animal, for ...
... it was the year when a little boy who played behind his father's grocery store in Trelawny became the first man to take a breather (and a leisurely backward glance) BEFORE reaching the finish line in the most spectacular display of athletic ability that this planet has ever witnessed.
... it was the year when a father saw his dream come to life as his son leapt nimbly onto a podium to be crowned the youngest ever Formula One World Champion.
... it was the year when life imitated Morgan Freeman as intertwining streams of humanity came together in time and space to bring 'Change to America', which would have been impossible to imagine a few decades ago, in a country with seemingly permanent fault lines along inconsequential borders of skin pigmentation.
... it was also the year when, far removed from all things glamorous and newsworthy, amongst the closed down docks of an old city of migrants, a man fought off his demons and clawed his way up to his dream of a job, to spend a lifetime seeped in the rhythms and murmurs of a few hundred grams of red meat ticking away in all of us.
Surely, 2008 was The Year of the Underdog.
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