Sports and Tragedy

Sports and tragedy have an odd way of wrapping themselves around each other. At these games a triumphant opening ceremony was intertwined with the tragic death of the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. History reminds us of other events. Lou Gehrig had the disease named after him. At Virginia Tech we remember that fateful day 4-16-07 when 32 people and a gunman lost their lives...and then the question of how and when to move on. The first baseball game...the first football game. We come together to understand the importance of being together with friends and family in a healing process and honoring loved ones taken from us too soon. Again at these Olympics we are reminded of how fragile life can be with the tragic and unexpected death of Joannie Rochette's mom only hours after she arrived here in Vancouver to watch her daughter skate. And then somehow Joannie finds the strength of will and the courage to skate the best performance of her life honoring the memory of her mother. There is not a dry eye in the arena and again the healing begins...