I usually agree with the Lovely Bride but the Olympics is one event I can't seem to pull away from.

I watched the opening ceremonies and thought it was the most brilliant thing I have ever seen on TV. I was overwhelmed by the power, precision, grace, beauty, and self-discipline exemplified in the 15,000 ceremony performers. The technological capacity of the entire event (dancers painting with their hands and feet, moving writing blocks operated in completely synchronized movement by men not computers!) was more advanced than anything the world has ever seen. As one of the anchors said, it is cinematic brilliance performed live in a stadium. The performances showed the strength of China and the discipline of their men (especially in the drum and martial arts sections of the ceremony).

Yet something was missing. When the floor of the stadium was filled with photographs of children on umbrellas or when a little Chinese girl floated through the sky like a fairy, I had to realize that the enchanted feeling I was getting was a complete illusion...that the majesty and even emotional reaction from seeing these children was intentionally diverting my attention from the fact that these children are miracles in light of China's one child policy; from the fact that each child in last night's performance probably has several siblings who have been aborted; from the fact that each girl I saw was extra precious because she represented her dwindling gender in China. I also didn't see the nearby farmers sitting in their homes and panicking because their government is channeling water intended for their rice paddies to Beijing for the Olympics.

The opening ceremonies were stunning, mind-boggling, and pure genius. Yet just a few hours after the spectacle, a relative of a U.S. Olympic coach was brutally murdered and I remember once again that the China I saw in the performance does not exist. All I saw, was a facade