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Games gift to Utah may be newfound confidence
By Jay Evensen
Deseret News editorial page editor
Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives.
A cliche? Perhaps, but I would hardly be understating the matter to say that things never will be quite the same around here.
The difference may have less to do with how others see us and everything to do with how we see ourselves.
Oh sure, when the closing ceremonies end tonight and the world packs its suitcases and heads to the airport, we will be left with a place that looks much the same as it did when February began. The Legislature finally will have to get down to the business of tackling a huge budget deficit, the old issues that made people argue before will resurface again.
And yet, something will be very different. It has to be. A city cannot go through 17 days of intense scrutiny, of drama and pathos, of athlete after athlete shedding tears and saying how thankful they are to be here, without changing. My hope is the Wasatch Front will be left with a newfound sense of self-confidence —one that is well-earned.
At least it should. We just submitted ourselves to a microscope and came across looking pretty good. Our guests scrutinized everything. We even had a dreaded inversion settle over the valley much of the time. And yet not every metropolitan area could pull off the kind of party we just threw and draw as many raves. Sure, there were some snide remarks, some complaints and some jokes at our expense, but the lasting images and the feelings are what people will remember.
Folks here always said people would like this place if they would just take the time to come see it. Perhaps now, once and for all, we can discard the collective sense of civic insecurity; the worries about how others perceive us.
A number of outsiders made interesting observations during the Games. Among the most interesting were those of syndicated columnist Georgie Anne Geyer, who wondered how Utah could pull off such a spectacular opening ceremonies. She quoted people who told how 98 percent of the cast were volunteers from Utah. She talked about the state's long commitment to the arts and to volunteer work, and how families here spend so much time nurturing their children with sports and the arts.
Then she concluded: "But I suspect strongly that the clean little secret of Salt Lake City, Utah and the Olympics is that the artistic triumph of the opening night, the mostly smooth operations of the days thereafter, and the economic prosperity are all because of the same thing. What one sees there is not anything that should seem extraordinary: It is simply the mix of a serious and upright religion, of families who foster and insist upon providing the highest levels of culture right along with the highest modern technology, and of generally sensible organizing and governing. In short, it is a modern mix of the old America."
Others had less thoughtful, but still important, insights. Rosie O'Donnell, for instance, said she learned there are American Indians in Utah. Even that, in its way, was a victory.
If all goes well through the end (I am writing this in advance with fingers crossed), the Olympics will have left a legacy difficult to calculate. Imagine, for example, what the cost would have been to purchase the nightly scenes broadcast to the world — the frequent cutaways showing beautiful mountain and city scenery, the lasting images of a short-track speedskating pileup and a figure skating competition that ended in two gold medal ceremonies — all of which forever will be linked with the host city.
Of course, Mitt Romney deserves a lot of credit for getting things in line, whipping a faltering, scandal-plagued organization into place and refocusing everyone.
But even Romney couldn't have succeeded if the community — the people who make the Wasatch Front a home — wasn't solid to the core. If the Olympics are judged a success after tonight, it will be because the community — all aspects of it — rose to the occasion.
Make no mistake. Criticisms will continue. People still will misjudge, stereotype and cast aspersions from time to time. The Olympics were a priceless coat of beautiful paint, but it didn't cover everything, and it will fade with time.
The difference is in how we react to those things.
Historians some day may divide the story of the Wasatch Front into two periods —one before and one after the Olympics. If so, let's hope they make the distinction because the Games showed us we have nothing to fear from the world. Even if we can't make everyone like us, we can, with good reason, be proud of what we have.
Jay Evensen is editor of the Deseret News editorial page. E-mail: even@desnews.com
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February 24, 2002
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