The blessings some Olympic athletes have forgotten: What we saw in Milan wasn’t appreciation for gratitude and opportunity. It was the upside-down thinking of a nation that’s too comfortable.

American Thinker ^ | 02/07/26 | Christian Vezilj

[SeekAndFind]

It was a moment that should have been simple—a press conference in Milan, just as the Winter Olympics were getting underway. However, ingratitude appeared and destroyed the moment.

Two American freestyle skiers, Chris Lillis and Hunter Hess, stood before the international press and used their platform not to celebrate their country, or to honor the people who helped them reach the world stage, but to distance themselves from the United States. They suggested that ICE’s actions “do not reflect the country they represent,” as if enforcing the law were somehow a national embarrassment.

While this episode may have been brief, its implications were profound: the interview showed that in a country such as the United States, with such a high level of safety, prosperity, and opportunity, people have seemingly forgotten the fundamental reasons these conditions exist.

These athletes trained in world-class facilities as they traveled freely and lived in communities protected by law enforcement, not terrorized by it. They rose through a system that rewarded discipline, sacrifice, and talent. They are living proof of what equal opportunity—America’s founding promise—can produce. No one guaranteed them medals or success. Yes, they earned it through their own hard work, but they did so in a country that made that hard work possible. And yet, when the cameras turned on, they chose grievance over gratitude.

This is the paradox of prosperity: when life becomes too good, people forget what made it good.

In the United States, opportunity is not a slogan. It is reality. It is the reason a child from a small town can grow into an Olympian. It is the reason families from every corner of the world still dream of coming here. It is the reason our society remains one of the safest, wealthiest, and most stable in human history.

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TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: milan; olympics

[dfwgator]

Nothing new under the Sun

[SkyDancer]

[ridesthemiles]

I WOULD HAVE SENT THEM HOME ON NEXT FLIGHT===

OR TAKEN THEIR CREDENTIALS & TOLD THEM THEY CAN GET HOME ON THEIR OWN.

[Blue Highway]

Had no idea the Black Panthers had their own Olympics. Weirder still is a White gut completed and came in second place

[Regulator]

Twirps aren’t freestylers.

Just couldn’t make it in the standard alpine disciplines.

Real freestylers came and went in the ‘70s.

[rktman]

I have a white gut. Maybe a pony keg. 😂👍

[dfwgator]

In the same Olympics...

[blueunicorn6]

When I was in elementary school we read a story called, The Man Without A Country.

I guess they don’t have kids read that anymore.

[rktman]

Olympuck giving should go the way of the dodo bird. Never have given for that. Won’t be watching either. Same for the super bowel tomorrow.

[Reily]

Kids don’t read anything anymore.

[DesertRhino]

How about that satanic opening ceremony complete with a pentagram and Joe Biden red lighting?

[southernindymom]

I hope they fail to place at all.

[hole_n_one]

You don’t see the media scum ask the same type questions of athletes from other countries.

Only US athletes are asked these loaded questions in the hope that they will say something negative about the US and more specifically, Trump.

[Dilbert San Diego]

LOL, interesting misspelling, LOL..

[quantim]

I read the other day that some toddlers are ‘swiping’ book covers expecting a new cover or something. This is sick.

[Honorary Serb]

.......In the United States, opportunity is not a slogan. It is reality. It is the reason a child from a small town can grow into an Olympian. It is the reason families from every corner of the world still dream of coming here. It is the reason our society remains one of the safest, wealthiest, and most stable in human history......

It is the reason that I—the son of two parents who never went to college—got to go to MIT as an undergraduate and Harvard as a graduate student!

This did not happen without hard work, however. But that is the American way, too!

[Reily]

Not surprised.

[PLMerite]

Full-time jocks.

Don’t really produce anything, and not smart enough to appreciate how easy they’ve got it.

[hanamizu]

I guess they don’t have kids read that anymore.

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Getting kids to read anything is a challenge today. In a recent study, they gave preschoolers books to look at and they tried to swipe the pages as if they were on a tablet. Young kids don’t even know how books ‘work’.