JOUR 61: Topical Blog Post 1

The San Francisco Mayor may feel that the Olympic torch relay through the city was a success, but the truth is there were no winners. The purpose of the torch relay is to demonstrate the magic and history of the word’s greatest sporting event and also to showcase the city that the torch is traveling through. Of course, on this occasion there were extra interests involved. The Chinese government intended on the entire Olympic experience acting as one big Public Relations campaign for the “New China”. Then there were those who intended on using the event to inform the world of the “truth” behind China’s P.R.

None of these groups got out of the event what they would have liked. Perhaps the people we should feel most sympathy for are those people who went and got their spot on the road side hours before the event in order to simply catch a glimpse of one of the world’s great symbols. For many it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The question now is whether the subsequent cities on the torch’s journey will follow San Francisco’s example. If they do, then the best thing for everyone involved is to extinguish the flame and put the torch on the next flight back to Beijing.