The recent headlines seem to say it all…
“Mixed Bag: Erratic Pandemic Olympics Come To a Nuanced End: The Tokyo Olympics, Christened With ‘2020’ but Held in Mid-2021 after Being Interrupted For a Year by the Coronavirus”;
“NBC Has 33-Year Low Viewership for Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony: ‘Not a Happy’ Benchmark: The TV Audience Dropped 37% from the Rio de Janeiro Opening Ceremony In 2016”;
“NBC's Tokyo Olympics Coverage Spurs 'Advertiser Anxiety' As Viewership Continues To Decline: Peacock Network’s Costly Event Shed 49% Of Viewers From 2016 Rio Games”;
“Tokyo Olympics Likely Will Be Least-Watched Of All Time: NBC Dogged By Disappointing Ratings for Summer Olympics Coverage”;
“NBC Tokyo Olympics Ratings 'Faceplanted,' Finishes With Smallest Summer Games Audience in Network History: Everything from Polarized Nation to Modern Technology Takes Blame for the Underwhelming TV Viewership”;
“NBC Sees 'Worst Case Scenario' As Olympics Ratings Plunge Amid 'Woke' Protests: Experts Have Pointed To Woke, Anti-U.S. Protests From American Athletes As Part Of The Lack Of Interest”.
I do not know if you watched the Olympics or not. For my part, I know full well why I chose not to watch them this year. But I will let my readers decide for themselves why the total viewership was so low.
That being said, there was one other Olympics related headline that quickly caught my attention: “Canada Olympian Penny Oleksiak Sends Message To 'WOAT' High School Teacher Who Doubted Her: Penny Oleksiak Has 7 Olympic Medals in Her Career”.
This last article tells the story of swimmer Penny Oleksiak, who won three medals for Canada at the Tokyo Olympics over the course of two weeks, giving her seven total Olympic medals, and making the 21-year-old the most decorated Canadian Olympic athlete ever.
According to the article…
“Oleksiak was a part of Canada’s team that won a silver medal in the women’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay and a bronze medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay. She also picked up a bronze medal in the women’s 200-meter freestyle.
Oleksiak picked up a handful of medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. She won a gold in the 100-meter freestyle, a silver in the 100-meter butterfly and bronze medals in the 4x100-meter freestyle and 4x200-meter freestyle.”
As the title of the article indicates, she now had a message for one of her former high school teachers:
“I just googled ‘Canada’s most decorated Olympian’ and my name came up. I want to thank that teacher in high school who told me to stop swimming to focus on school (because) swimming wouldn’t get me anywhere. This is what dreams are made of.”
In a follow-up tweet, she stated:
“Also in reference to my last tweet no shade at all towards teachers in general, my sister is a teacher and I see her inspiring kids everyday... Most of my teachers saw the vision and pushed me towards it. That one who constantly dragged me down though, WOAT (Worst of All-Time).”
As I read this story, I could not help but be reminded that the world is full of what I choose to call “dream-squashers”! Maybe you have heard of “dream-chasers”, “dream-weavers”, and/or “dream catchers”, but what about “dream-squashers”?
According to Webster’s dictionary, to squash something is: 1. “to press or beat into a pulp or a flat mass, to crush”; or else 2. “to put down, to suppress”. It goes without saying that we have all known our share of dream “putter downers” and/or “suppressors” who have taken it upon themselves to “press” down, “beat into a pulp”, or otherwise personally “crush” our own personal dreams!
As one who experienced more than his share of dream-squashers along the way, I can readily relate to her words. As a result, to all of these individuals, I would add a hardy “Amen” to Ms. Oleksiak’s condemnation. Their kind is deadly to anyone who would accomplish and/or achieve anything of ultimate consequence!
As a result, their perspective is simply unappreciated, unwanted, and above all, unwelcome! And for this reason, I simply choose not to listen to them. Their voice is only so much noise in my ears! Or, as Kevin O’Leary so famously puts it: “They (and their opinion) are now dead to me!”
Of course, all of this is meaningless if I, in turn, wind up becoming little more than a “dream-squasher” to others! May God help me to be an encourager rather than a discourager of others!
After all, if He has chosen to equip them with certain gifts, talents, and skills, then surely He intends for them to make use of these things for both His purposes and for His glory. And just who am I to undermine this?!
The Apostle Paul gives us instruction for building others up in Ephesians 4:29 when he says: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” To this, in I Thessalonians 5:11, he later adds that we should “encourage one another and build each other up”.
To me, it sure sounds like these passages tell us that he is encouraging us to be dream supporters and not dream squashers! After all, who knows what all those we encounter and influence in life will one day amount to?! To be sure: we may not, but God certainly does! And how dare any of us undermine what He is up to in the life of any person He allows us the privilege to sway!
The folks over at NBC are said to have face-planted this year in regard to their Olympics coverage. While the evidence suggests that they did, they still might disagree. But even if they did fail miserably, their shortcoming is no less glaring than that of a certain unnamed high school teacher who long ago attempted to squash the dream of a would-be future Olympic athlete. I pray I will never be accounted among those who fail so miserably!
In short, when it comes to encouraging others, may I not be seen so much as a “WOAT” (Worst of All Time), but rather as a “GOAT” (Greatest of All Time)! Surely doing so not only edifies others but also glorifies Almighty God!
NEWS ARTICLE SOURCES:
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/mixed-bag-erratic-pandemic-olympics-come-to-a-nuanced-end';
https://www.foxnews.com/media/nbc-has-33-year-low-viewership-for-tokyo-olympic-opening-ceremony;
https://www.foxnews.com/media/nbc-olympics-coverage-spurs-advertiser-anxiety;
https://www.foxnews.com/media/clay-travis-tokyo-olympics-least-watched-ratings-tv;
https://www.foxnews.com/media/nbc-tokyo-olympics-ratings-faceplanted;
https://www.foxnews.com/media/nbc-olympics-ratings-plunge-woke-protests.
DICTIONARY SOURCE:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/squash.
SCRIPTURE SOURCES:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-encouraging-others/.
“Mixed Bag: Erratic Pandemic Olympics Come To a Nuanced End: The Tokyo Olympics, Christened With ‘2020’ but Held in Mid-2021 after Being Interrupted For a Year by the Coronavirus”;
“NBC Has 33-Year Low Viewership for Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony: ‘Not a Happy’ Benchmark: The TV Audience Dropped 37% from the Rio de Janeiro Opening Ceremony In 2016”;
“NBC's Tokyo Olympics Coverage Spurs 'Advertiser Anxiety' As Viewership Continues To Decline: Peacock Network’s Costly Event Shed 49% Of Viewers From 2016 Rio Games”;
“Tokyo Olympics Likely Will Be Least-Watched Of All Time: NBC Dogged By Disappointing Ratings for Summer Olympics Coverage”;
“NBC Tokyo Olympics Ratings 'Faceplanted,' Finishes With Smallest Summer Games Audience in Network History: Everything from Polarized Nation to Modern Technology Takes Blame for the Underwhelming TV Viewership”;
“NBC Sees 'Worst Case Scenario' As Olympics Ratings Plunge Amid 'Woke' Protests: Experts Have Pointed To Woke, Anti-U.S. Protests From American Athletes As Part Of The Lack Of Interest”.
I do not know if you watched the Olympics or not. For my part, I know full well why I chose not to watch them this year. But I will let my readers decide for themselves why the total viewership was so low.
That being said, there was one other Olympics related headline that quickly caught my attention: “Canada Olympian Penny Oleksiak Sends Message To 'WOAT' High School Teacher Who Doubted Her: Penny Oleksiak Has 7 Olympic Medals in Her Career”.
This last article tells the story of swimmer Penny Oleksiak, who won three medals for Canada at the Tokyo Olympics over the course of two weeks, giving her seven total Olympic medals, and making the 21-year-old the most decorated Canadian Olympic athlete ever.
According to the article…
“Oleksiak was a part of Canada’s team that won a silver medal in the women’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay and a bronze medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay. She also picked up a bronze medal in the women’s 200-meter freestyle.
Oleksiak picked up a handful of medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. She won a gold in the 100-meter freestyle, a silver in the 100-meter butterfly and bronze medals in the 4x100-meter freestyle and 4x200-meter freestyle.”
As the title of the article indicates, she now had a message for one of her former high school teachers:
“I just googled ‘Canada’s most decorated Olympian’ and my name came up. I want to thank that teacher in high school who told me to stop swimming to focus on school (because) swimming wouldn’t get me anywhere. This is what dreams are made of.”
In a follow-up tweet, she stated:
“Also in reference to my last tweet no shade at all towards teachers in general, my sister is a teacher and I see her inspiring kids everyday... Most of my teachers saw the vision and pushed me towards it. That one who constantly dragged me down though, WOAT (Worst of All-Time).”
As I read this story, I could not help but be reminded that the world is full of what I choose to call “dream-squashers”! Maybe you have heard of “dream-chasers”, “dream-weavers”, and/or “dream catchers”, but what about “dream-squashers”?
According to Webster’s dictionary, to squash something is: 1. “to press or beat into a pulp or a flat mass, to crush”; or else 2. “to put down, to suppress”. It goes without saying that we have all known our share of dream “putter downers” and/or “suppressors” who have taken it upon themselves to “press” down, “beat into a pulp”, or otherwise personally “crush” our own personal dreams!
As one who experienced more than his share of dream-squashers along the way, I can readily relate to her words. As a result, to all of these individuals, I would add a hardy “Amen” to Ms. Oleksiak’s condemnation. Their kind is deadly to anyone who would accomplish and/or achieve anything of ultimate consequence!
As a result, their perspective is simply unappreciated, unwanted, and above all, unwelcome! And for this reason, I simply choose not to listen to them. Their voice is only so much noise in my ears! Or, as Kevin O’Leary so famously puts it: “They (and their opinion) are now dead to me!”
Of course, all of this is meaningless if I, in turn, wind up becoming little more than a “dream-squasher” to others! May God help me to be an encourager rather than a discourager of others!
After all, if He has chosen to equip them with certain gifts, talents, and skills, then surely He intends for them to make use of these things for both His purposes and for His glory. And just who am I to undermine this?!
The Apostle Paul gives us instruction for building others up in Ephesians 4:29 when he says: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” To this, in I Thessalonians 5:11, he later adds that we should “encourage one another and build each other up”.
To me, it sure sounds like these passages tell us that he is encouraging us to be dream supporters and not dream squashers! After all, who knows what all those we encounter and influence in life will one day amount to?! To be sure: we may not, but God certainly does! And how dare any of us undermine what He is up to in the life of any person He allows us the privilege to sway!
The folks over at NBC are said to have face-planted this year in regard to their Olympics coverage. While the evidence suggests that they did, they still might disagree. But even if they did fail miserably, their shortcoming is no less glaring than that of a certain unnamed high school teacher who long ago attempted to squash the dream of a would-be future Olympic athlete. I pray I will never be accounted among those who fail so miserably!
In short, when it comes to encouraging others, may I not be seen so much as a “WOAT” (Worst of All Time), but rather as a “GOAT” (Greatest of All Time)! Surely doing so not only edifies others but also glorifies Almighty God!
NEWS ARTICLE SOURCES:
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/mixed-bag-erratic-pandemic-olympics-come-to-a-nuanced-end';
https://www.foxnews.com/media/nbc-has-33-year-low-viewership-for-tokyo-olympic-opening-ceremony;
https://www.foxnews.com/media/nbc-olympics-coverage-spurs-advertiser-anxiety;
https://www.foxnews.com/media/clay-travis-tokyo-olympics-least-watched-ratings-tv;
https://www.foxnews.com/media/nbc-tokyo-olympics-ratings-faceplanted;
https://www.foxnews.com/media/nbc-olympics-ratings-plunge-woke-protests.
DICTIONARY SOURCE:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/squash.
SCRIPTURE SOURCES:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-encouraging-others/.