Head Tale

Rumours were swirling about the top secret torch bearer who would light the Olympic Cauldron during the Opening Ceremonies last Friday.  The best suggestion I heard was that they were going to use current video editing techniques or another recently unveiled technology such as a hologram to have Terry Fox “run” into the stadium, symbolically ending the cross-Canada run he started almost thirty years ago. 

And who else could symbolize the absolute peak of athletic achievement better than a one-legged cancer survivor who basically ran a marathon a day for 143 days straight?  Unfortunately, the Vancouver Olympic Committee didn't do this and a golden opportunity was missed to feature one of Canada's greatest heroes.  (She's about as biased as it gets but Terry Fox's mom agrees.)

In fact, if I'm being completely honest (and if you'll indulge a slight tangent), I think I'd vote Terry Fox over Tommy Douglas as Canada's Greatest Canadian.  Because no matter how much I admire Tommy Douglas or agree with his politics, the difference maker is that Tommy Douglas was an elected politician doing what he felt was right and, as is inevitable in the political arena, there was opposition to him, both at the time and still today.  Terry Fox was a young everyman without an agenda (other than defeating cancer obviously) who was like some sort of tragic Greek hero with the epic journey he took on for himself. 

“Many years after I saw him run a couple of consecutive marathons –
his 136th and 137th or something like it – I ran one myself. I trained
for it for six months, on two legs, and spent the day after on my back.
When Terry finished a marathon, he had something to eat, maybe endured
an event of glad-handing (in order to raise more money) in some
godforsaken town, grabbed a few hours sleep, and then got up and did it
again.”


To this day, I can't read anything about Terry Fox without tearing up.  The article I pulled the above quote from did it to me again.