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Leaders could learn from Olympic ideals

The 2018 edition of the Olympic Winter Games is underway in PyeongChang, South Korea, bringing together athletes and coaches from around the world to compete for national pride and Olympic glory.

The 2018 edition of the Olympic Winter Games is underway in PyeongChang, South Korea, bringing together athletes and coaches from around the world to compete for national pride and Olympic glory.

Our world’s leaders, not to mention leaders at the provincial and local levels, could take a lesson or two from the Games as our athletes strive to do their best in a fair and open competition.

Consider the creed, or guiding principle, of the modern Olympic Games, coined by the founder of the Olympic movement, Baron de Coubertin: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

Politically, there are squabbles at local, national and international levels that lead to trade and diplomatic disputes, and worse, to war or threats of war. One of the greatest threats to world peace lies just north of where the Olympic Games are being held, as North Korea has made threats to send nuclear missiles to the United States.

In Syria, bombing by Syrian and Russian forces has resumed with a vengeance, killing many.

Here in Canada, the dispute between the NDP governments of B.C. and Alberta is heating up over the issue of the Kinder Morgan pipeline that Alberta wants built to the West Coast. Alberta is now saying they will ban the sale of wine from B.C. in retaliation for B.C.’s attempts to stop the pipeline.

Disputes and squabbles are nothing new, but people have to learn how to sit down and work out the issues they disagree on without disrupting the lives and livelihoods of residents who are caught in the crossfire, symbolically and literally.

The Olympic movement centres around athletic excellence, but as the creed shows, it’s much more than that. As stated in the last sentence, it’s not so important to conquer one’s foes but to have fought well.

Some countries strive simply to conquer, such as is demonstrated in the trade talks for the North American Free Trade Agreement, where President Donald Trump’s stated goal is to make sure the United States wins at all costs.

In politics, and in local communities, an important principle is compromise, the ability to give and take and to consider the point of view of the other person. The art of negotiating is not about just getting one’s way all the time, but making tradeoffs that both sides can live with.

The end result may not be the glories of gold medals, but countries and communities living in peace with one another, and that is important too.