All that glitters is gold, or why Paul Hamm should’ve given up his medal.

Let me start by saying that it’s not because I’m Korean

or that I don’t play sports.

And it’s not because I’m a traitor to my country,

my principles are out of whack

or that I just need something to complain about

but I think Paul Hamm should’ve given his medal back.

Now before you burn me at the stake,

I didn’t say that the US Olympic Committee strip it from him

or make him give it up.

I did say that he should give it back.

Why?

Because he didn’t win.

The judges made a mistake,

admitted the mistake,

and despite the fact that in his heart he feels he earned the gold,

the numbers are there in black, white,

gold, bronze, and silver.

But then again, since when did anything on paper ever stop the U.S.

from taking what it wants?

If you ask Paul why he should keep the gold, he’ll tell you

he did his job, and competed with pride and integrity.

Which I suppose means everyone else in the Olympics didn’t.

All I keep hearing is how he’s the victim, that he has to

“defend his medal,”

that he needs to make sure “his gold medal isn’t stolen.”

Like it’s Korea causing the problem,

those damn Koreans making a fuss.

If it isn’t nuclear arms, it’s a gold medal,

and we sure as hell have to protect ourselves from any foreign attack

nucular, gymnastic, or otherwise.

You know, most Americans don’t know that Hawai’i is a state,

so why should they get

that North and South Korea are two different countries?

After all, it’s just a tiny little parallel that separates the two, you know,

and besides, now South Korea’s got that anti-American president,

and everyone knows “anti-American” means “communist.”

We might even need to seize all future Olympic Gold Medals

as a preemptive strike against any further monkey business like,

you know,

the truth.

All I have to say is turn the tables and see what a stink the U.S.

would’ve made if it were we who were cheated of the gold.

But that’s not how it happened—

finders/keepers,

losers…winners?

And you know, I guess I shouldn’t even be surprised,

because we got a long history of taking what doesn’t belong to us.

Like Guam, the Hawaiian Kingdom, and the North American continent.

Hell, the current presidency is based on taking what hadn’t been won.

But what I don’t understand is how getting something for nothing

makes US the victims.

You know, just like we’re victims of terrorism,

how we have to “defend our freedom,”

make sure that our “liberty isn’t stolen” by,

oh,

declaring war on another country under false pretenses

and lying to the public while we send our brothers and sisters

to bleed for the Bush corporation.

I guess it doesn’t matter

that millions were killed in Indonesia by a CIA-assisted coup in ‘65;

that we bombed the Dominican Republic during their elections in ’66;

that we bombed Iran, Cambodia, Laos, Panama,

Somalia, Kuwait, Yugoslavia;

I mean who the hell did we not bomb? 

And if we’re not wiping out people,

we’re hitting Vieques, Makua, and Bikini Atoll.

And some people wanna blame TV for all the violence in the world.

So you gotta forgive me if Paul Hamm got no portion of my sympathy

in that Olympian controversy

because sometimes a medal is not just a medal.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to keep something I didn’t earn.

Every time I looked at that gold,

all I would think about is how much denial it takes

to say it’s mine, all mine.

But I guess that’s why I keep getting called a traitor to my country;

because if there’s one thing Paul Hamm proved,

it’s that stealing

is as American

as apple pie.

                                                                        -Brenda Kwon