Olympic Stirrings

I have hated sports since the day I was born. I've never been athletic, but that's not the reason for my intense dislike of all athletics. It's more along the lines of I just don't understand the purpose. I mean, I get that it's about competition, learning to work with a team and pushing yourself to personal and worldly limits, but what do sports really accomplish? Nothing. Not a single thing except pride, money, and/or a trophy. I don't understand the emphasis that our world puts on the playing games, nor the fame that those players receive- especially when there are people, like doctors, who better the lives of millions of people, and yet they go through life unnoticed. WHY?! I mean, why is it that people willingly sit in front of a tv or carry on casual conversation about guys who can kick a ball into a net? Not to diss all the amazing athletes out there- it's great that you guys have goals and can become the best in the world at whatever it is that you love to do. I admire that. What I don't admire is the attention that it gets. Hundreds/thousands of years from now, when our species is fighting for survival, is it really going to matter who was the best football player in the 21st century? No- what's going to matter is the research or contribution of some nameless person who devoted their life to science, or charity, in one way or another, changing the world. So I guess my original statements are incorrect. It's not that I don't respect athletes- because I do! I just think that the things they accomplish are more personal than global- but that's not the way my fellow man sees it. Perhaps I should try a different approach...
In what way is it fair that Obama, the leader of our country, receives $400,000 a year for his service to our nation and the world, while Tiger Woods pockets $60 million for hitting a ball with a club??? I don't care what your political stance or personal opinion of our president is- I am not into politics in the least- but in my opinion, ANYONE who attempts to runs our country (regardless of the mistakes they might make along the way) in effort to better this US of A, deserves more recognition and reciprocity than any athlete. It makes me ill knowing that professional sports players have things handed to them on a silver platter while other people struggle to contribute money, manpower, and knowledge to this world.
On a slightly different note, I've been watching the Olympics the last few days- more so than ever before, and I must admit that I quite enjoy watching the swimming and gymnastics. Those people are crazy talented. But, getting to the point- I don't understand how countries across the globe can come together to play games like we don't have a care in the world, but as soon as the competition is over, we return to our normal states of warring and dispute. Why is that? Could we not apply some of this good citizenship and friendly competition to real world problems??? Just something to consider...

And I'd like to end with one of my favorite quotes, something from John Green's The Fault In Our Stars:
"I used to play basketball. But then one day I was shooting free throws and all at once I couldn't figure out why I was methodically tossing a spherical object through a toroidal object. It seemed like the stupidest thing I could possibly be doing. And then for some reason I started thinking about hurdlers- about them and their hurdle races, and jumping over these totally arbitrary objects that had been set in their path. And I wondered if hurdlers ever thought, you know, this would go a lot faster if we just got rid of the hurdles."