the big picture

The very recent relevation that the voice supporting the very cute performance by Lin Miaoke is not really hers has sparked much public outcry and debate.

Much of this indignation and in some cases anger, seems to be attributed to 2 reasons:

1. that another young 7 year old(Yang Pei Yi) was 'passed over' as she was deemed not as presentable due to her slightly crooked teeth
2. that the impeccably delivered "Ode to the Motherland" that touched us during those first few moments feels so much like a sham now, very much similar to the after-knowledge that the handwritten note from our lover that drove us to tears was actually done by his best friend...

with respect to the first point, many have asked what kind of sick society china must be to permit or even purposely engineer something like this. here is where i feel that too much china-bashing, individualism and even self righteousness have taken over. indeed if you were to ask me if i would have make the same decision as the executive in the same shoes, i would have to say yes. and before the world rush to 'judge' and even 'convict' China again (if they have not already done so already), i think they would do well to understand the merits of such a decision.

one can easily identify the 'whatever it takes' and 'at all costs' attitude that have brought us the quality attained during the opening ceremony. and like everything in sports, in life, it involves very much teamwork, selflessness and definitely some form of sacrifice in order to achieve the greater good, or deliver a outcome that is as perfect as humanly possible. should one put up a image of a potentially 'less than perfect' little girl with an amazing voice? should one put up the angelic face that captures the imagination of the millions of viewers all over but knowing she may not deliver the best voice there is? the officials has chosen teamwork. the officials have chosen to try to deliver the best they can in terms of appearance and voice and i applaud that decision.

and yes, one can say it involves sacrifice on the part of little 'Yang' but she herself knows what she is capable of and she knows her contribution in the whole process ("Asked by a CCTV journalist whether she was sad to have missed the opening ceremony, she replied: "No, my voice was there.") she seems to have understood how the world functions much better than many adults!

i believe that's where this individualism and self righteousness comes in. many of us felt so much for 'Yang' being passed over because we cannot imagine ourselves being in her same shoes. we cannot tolerate the injustice we would feel if our child was also 'passed over'. but isn't that kind of immature and not living in the 'real' world? how many times have we (and going to) be snubbed or passed over or sacrificed in our lives? the important thing is to get over it and continue to believe in ourselves. no one can take that away from you.

yet i agree more recognition should have been given to Yang. perhaps that was what the music director was trying to do after the ceremony in sharing this fact during the interview.

and getting to the 'real' reason why we are really mad in the first place. i believe we were really offended to know that we have been duped.

that's really it, isn't it?

however, to put some perspective to it, we need to agree in the first place that we are being fed visuals and images every single day of our lives, from the music we hear, the ads we see, the news we read, which are not totally authentic. in fact, i would challenge the reader to ask himself, if he/she is involved in a little bit of that. we all wear masks and roles to different people at different times because it is appropriate in specific situations. is that really authentic, i would say no...

so my question is this. what is the big deal? a good or even great show has been performed and we should acknowledge that. why do we continue to pick at this or even go so far to say that it has ruined everything?

let me end with a example from a recent show i watched. in 'The Dark Knight', the city needed a hero. someone to take the fall, someone to sacrifice himself, as a certain madman wanted the Batman. the DA offered himself as a bait, so that the real Batman continued to stay under wraps in order to finally captured the Joker.

i remember when the reporter asked Batman why he could allow for something like this to happen? how could he allow the DA to take the fall for him?

my answer to her would have been simply because you just do not see the big picture.