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It’s not a stretch to say that this year’s Olympics in China have been controversial. The first reason being because, while becoming more progressive, China has a terrible reputation of population control, government intrusion in its citizens lives and equally harsh punishment for disobeying far reaching Chinese laws. Secondly, there’s the horrible pollution and smog problem, so bad in fact that only half the cars in China will be allowed on the road during the Olympics, and even that’s barely having an impact. And then there’s the Tibet problem. Human rights activists are calling foul play on the IOC for allowing the Olympics to be held in a country whose official military policy is to occupy a neighbouring country and impose even harsher laws on their largely peaceful population.

A friend of mine from Montreal was arrested this weekend in Beijing for protesting, was held for 48 hours and then deported to Hong Kong.

While I’m not taking a side here, I am proud of my friend for not only having such strong beliefs, but for also being willing to fly across the globe, be arrested and sit in a Chinese prison just to get the message out.

Which got me thinking, “When was the last time I was this dedicated to anything?” It may be an extreme example, but it certainly had me inspired to work harder towards my goals – hopefully it will do the same for you.

Devon

Tags: devon soltendieck

Posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 2:55 pm by Devon and is filed under Headlines & Current Events.

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