Michael Phelps, role model

I'm no fan of the Olympics or the sport of swimming, but I can't help but look on Michael Phelps's achievements with any less than the feelings of utter awe and total pride. His performance is one that brings forth tears in me. What better place to display the fruits of individual achievement than in front of a nation of people who are brainwashed to believe that it is wrong and bad? This is perhaps the greatest juxtaposing of individual achievement and political discourse since Jesse Owens's spectacular performance in the face of Adolf Hitler in the 1936 Olympics in Germany. Or the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" where the USA's hockey team beat the heavily-favored Soviet Union in Lake Placid, NY during the thick of the Cold War.

I'm certain that it's only matter of time before some council of anti-individualists claiming to work for the "greater good" makes it impossible for such achievement to burst forth. After all... it was a young, white, rich, American male with a reasonable name that did all this. In today's world, that's so much to hate.

Thank you, Mr. Phelps. Thank you for showing us once again what's possible with hard work and determination.