I just finished watching again the movie, Miracle. For those who are not familiar with it, it is a retelling of the American Hockey Team winning the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
To win the gold, the USA team, made up of college players, had to play the Russians who were considered the best hockey team in the world. They had just destroyed a team of NHL All-Stars and had not lost a game in several years.
The sportscaster, Al Michaels would become famous for his shout-out as the clock wound down on a 4-3 win for the USA team, “Do you believe in miracles!”
What struck me about the movie was not the game itself which is a great story, but the opening scenes about what was going on in the world then and how eerily it reminds me of what is happening today. It just shows that if we don’t learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat it and we are.
In 1980, America was in the doldrums. Inflation was high, there was a gasoline shortage, Iran had overrun our embassy in Tehran and would hold American hostages for over a year, Russia had invaded Afghanistan and other world events similar to what is happening today.
Then President Jimmy Carter, went on national tv and lamented that America has lost its confidence and for the first-time surveys had shown that the next generation would be worse off than the current one. Sound familiar?
For a brief moment, the hockey team win restored pride in who we are and gave hope to the country. But help was on the way, it was a presidential election year (again sound familiar?) between Carter and Reagan. We know what happened under Reagan. My question is, Where is our miracle and our Reagan?
Charles Cotten
Odessa
