I don't know many celebrities, but I know of the Olympic torch.

         I've spent quality time with it on more than a few continents, having been lucky enough to attend six summer and winter games.      I was in the seats as it was brought into the stadium in Sidney, Australia in 2000, and was there in the Salt Lake city cold as it went out in 2002.     I rode with the torch as part of the caravan that accompanied it in Milwaukee, and I know people in this very building who had the honor of actually carrying it through our streets.

         That said, a little bit of me dies each time I see someone trying to snuff it as it makes it's way to Beijing.

         I'd always thought the Olympics were supposed to be free of politics, and I understand at this late stage in life that such thoughts are naive.       I remember the Carter Administration's boycott of the Moscow games, and the Soviet Union's decision to skip the L-A Olympics.       To this day, I don't understand what good that little tit-for-tat exchange did.

         And now, in 2006, we face the specter of politics tainting the games once again.     This time, the issue is Tibet.       How dousing the flame as it makes it's way to Beijing is going to liberate the Dali Lama and his country people, I don't know.     

        The Tibetan struggle is nothing new--China admits the issue is some 700 years old, although they also believed they settled the manner way back then and that the matter should've been off the table ever since.      Actor Richard Gere has been way ahead of the curve on this one, arguing for Tibetan liberation back in the day when he was still "Looking for Mr. Goodbar".      I remember him being viewed as kind of a kook back then for making Tibet his adopted cause.    Now, with Desmond Tutu at his side in San Francisco this week, he seems validated.

        I respect peaceful protest--if angry Tibetan supporters want to make their case as the torch passes by, fine.     I wonder where these people were when the location was being chosen for the 2008 Summer Games, when a case could've been made before the IOC to actually keep the games from going to Beijing in the first place (after all, more than one city puts in for the honor).     China's human rights issues, aside from Tibet, have hardly been hidden over the past few decades.      I happen to remember a certain Beijing square that was the scene of one of the most brutal crackdowns on peaceful protest in modern times.         Did we all forget about the picture of the guy standing in front of the tank?

        These aren't new problems.       All of this was in play BEFORE the IOC drew an "X" on a map, handing Beijing the honor, economic boost, the legitimacy that come with hosting the Olympics.        I don't remember much of a hue and/or cry back then.     I can't recall any talk of boycotts.      It seems as if the whole world bought into the concept of "a new China", now that it's leaders wear Western cut suits instead of Mao jackets.

         The Olympics aren't meant to be a political target, or a place to petition grievances.       It's the one time every four years where we're supposed to put all that crap on the side, gather as people to compete as nations on the athletic field of play in hopes we won't be clashing someday on a battleground.      Swords and plowshares?     Remember?        I've been in host cities, watching as people from all over gather to share an arena, walk the same streets, eat the same food, try speaking the same language.      It may sound sappy, but you can't help but think that maybe, just maybe, all that "peace and brotherhood" stuff would actually have a chance if only we'd give it the opportunity to foment.   

        Those upset about the money Beijing will make during the Summer Games should ask just how many of our dollars are already heading across the Pacific the other 11 months of each year.         There's no global television coverage of daily international commerce, and no gold medals are awarded in stock exchanges, at seaports, or in the other arenas where global business is carried out each day.      Yet it happens, 24/7/365, and no one seems to have a problem with it, especially if it benefits their retirement plan or their company's bottom line.

        But now, we feel the need to extinguish the torch?      What does THAT do?      

       Ignore the Summer Games.      Don't buy Beijing Olympic swag.      Write your Senator and Congressional representative, demanding action on Tibet.     Peacefully protest.       Just leave the torch alone.      It's not that don't need to turn up the heat.      It's just that we certainly could use the light.