'what the Olympics can do with those shiny torches'

From: 'Extinguished'

by Marcus Gilmer
 
" ... The Torch Committee thought it important to bring us all together so we could get to know one another and share the patriotic experience as a group, an orgy for the ego. We were all decked out in the same jumpsuit. The pants were plain white while the jacket, worn over a white t-shirt embossed with the Olympic Rings logo, was white with a silver and blue snowflake. The jacket and shirt also sported the inspirational motto of the 2002 Winter Olympics, “Light the Fire Within.” Not that all that an entire outfit made: it also included white gloves and a matching knit cap, the latter of which, my sister helpfully pointed out, looked like a condom on my head.

I milled about the parking lot, introducing myself to the other torch runners. Every time the subject of What Great Feats Got Us Here came up, it was impossible to trump them. “I beat cancer” or “I saved a man's life” topped “I learned how to make a bong out of a Mountain Dew can, a plastic fork, and a straw.” With each passing conversation, my stomach began to stir. I didn't belong.

After an hour of this meeting and greeting, one of the “handlers,” the impossibly cheery young people who told us what to do, huddled us into groups of twenty and corralled each group onto one of the identical busses stationed around the parking lot, all with the torch logos and motto emblazoned on their sides. My family waved goodbye and headed off to find the point on the route where I would receive the Olympic flame. As I took my seat on the bus, I found myself sitting next to the combat nurse, who smiled at me and giggled, “My, isn't this going to be a fun bus ride?” ... "