The most famous nearly-naked body in the world has to belong to Michael Phelps. By now, the whole world knows his bare chest and has seen gold draped around it.

As dramatic and thrilling as Michael Phelps’s many victories were, I kept hoping he would take a moment when the whole world was watching to say something that the whole world would remember. I had this great fantasy that, as they interviewed him, Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympic athlete in history, might actually come out and say something like, “I am honored to win this event. I only wish I had been able to win it in a country that respects human rights.”

Oh, he would have gotten criticism to be sure, but he could have walked away from that event knowing that not only had he done is best, won gold medals, and set world records in the pool, but he had tried to make the world a better place outside the pool as well. I am increasingly convinced that justice will not be done, and peace on earth will not come, until each of us resolves to do our part. Michael didn’t have to return his medals in protest or quit swimming to work for human rights. It just would have been nice if he had taken his moment in the sun not only to bask, but to shine. He had the greatest platform in the world for a few minutes, and maybe a brief word might have reminded us that the largest country in the world doesn’t respect the human rights of its own people.

Actually, I have an even wilder fantasy about Michael Phelps. What if, while he was standing in the spotlight, he had come out and said, “I am honored to win this event. I only wish I had been able to win it for a country that respects human rights.”

Blessings,

Michael Piazza
President, Hope for Peace & Justice