THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 29, 1996 TAG: 9607280004
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 39 lines
Like Kerri Strug, the young gymnast who has become their emblem, the Atlanta Olympics are likely to be remembered for courage in the face of adversity.
After a week, these Olympic games were limping as a result of self-inflicted wounds - a glitch-plagued information system, an inadequate transportation system. And then, the bomb.
It is a disheartening sign of our times that any place that humans gather in large numbers, densely packed - an airplane, an office building, an outdoor-entertainment venue such as Atlanta's Olympic Park - becomes a possible target for terror.
Thanks to the inarticulate and impotent, the bomb is becoming a characteristic method of expression in our times, leaving behind death, injury, sorrow and confusion. It is troubling enough that America, as the world's remaining superpower, is at the center of the bull's-eye for a large number of disenfranchised, misguided, publicity-seeking political factions. But Oklahoma City and the Unabomber have taught us that increasingly American malcontents bomb other Americans in acts of demented fratricide.
The violence won't stop the Olympics. Those with twisted minds won't prevent those with finely-honed bodies, brave hearts and focused wills from winning their moment in the sun. But the bombing has clouded what should have been a celebration of undimmed brilliance.
It's a damned shame, but this knavish act of random violence does provide a stark reminder that life offers clear choices. Though we can't all be Olympians, each of us can choose to join those who tear down or those who build up, those who divide or those who unite, those who yearn to do their worst or those who strive to do their best.
If all who are appalled at this shameful act in Atlanta choose light and reject darkness, the bomb will have backfired, the bombers will have lost their pathetic game. by CNB