Should gigantic, illuminated interlocking Olympic rings adorn the foothills of Salt Lake City during the Winter Games?
With the world locked in a death struggle against evil, that may seem like a trivial question to occupy the minds of city leaders these days — especially considering how evil may find the entire valley a tempting target come February. It may seem as if some on the City Council are grabbing for fiddles at a time when when the rest of the city, although not on fire, will soon become a torch of sorts for the rest of the world.
And that would be correct.
The 2002 Winter Games have, since Sept. 11, grown in importance. They will symbolize peace and civilization in a time of insane crisis. If this 2,000-light-bulb display of 160-foot diameter rings is anything like Olympic boss Mitt Romney says it would be, it could come to symbolize more than the Olympics, as well.
This is not a request from some eccentric local resident who wants to light up a hillside to serve some narrow purpose. This is not from some local business owner who wants to erect a billboard that is bigger and more intrusive than any of his competitors.
Romney describes it as a temporary gift from an anonymous donor who also has agreed to clean up and revegetate the site after everyone leaves and donate $25,000 to the city's open-space legacy fund, to boot.
Where, exactly, is the down side to this?
A few City Council members and neighborhood leaders have tried to find some. They equate the mountains to temples or cathedrals, and the rings to desecration. Councilwoman Nancy Saxton said the mountains already are icons in and of themselves, and the rings would be a billboard.
I'm the first one to agree the Wasatch range is breath-taking. I have been known to sit for hours on the deck of my house in South Jordan and watch them as they transform, like gigantic mood rings, with the weather and the time of day. But let's get serious here. The hills above the Avenues already are marked by houses that seem to advance ever higher like shoots of morning glory. And what about that block letter U.? What is that doing in a cathedral?
Councilman Tom Rogan said the donor should give money instead to the city's emergency homeless shelter, which would be a better symbol of the community's priorities. But let's be careful not to paint people who want to decorate the hillside and contribute to open space as cold and uncaring. I believe my college logic professors would have called that the red-herring fallacy.
Some of the same people complain that this has been rammed through without the proper public procedures. That's a little difficult to swallow after two City Council hearings and weeks of debate in the media.
Here is reality, whether or not we are ready to accept it: The Wasatch Front is about to become the focus, not only of the entire civilized world but of its hopes for an elusive level of peace and understanding. The Olympic Games have that kind of draw on people.
Given the new realities since Sept. 11, rings on the mountainside could go beyond expressions of civic pride. They could be a bold statement, a fanfare of color that says the civilized world, like a city on the hill, will not attempt to hide or retreat from criminals.
It's fairly safe to say the enemies of that ideal may at least try to wreak havoc on the city while the world watches. Who knows what else might happen by February? Military attacks may drone on. The anarchists and assorted miscreants who tried to rough up Seattle; Quebec City, Quebec; and Genoa, Italy, in recent months — terrorists of a different sort — may decide to riot in the name of some misguided notion of peace.
Rest assured, something or someone will become the visual symbol of Salt Lake 2002. Why not do our best to make it a positive symbol, hovering over the city like a daily reminder?
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee has commissioned an opinion poll to learn how everyday people feel about the rings. The City Council is scheduled to make its decision on Tuesday.
Politicians are fond of saying that all politics is local. In this case, however, an intensely local issue can in fact have international significance.
The good news is that the focus of the Games has gone from scandal and liquor laws to whether the world can still play together in peace amid terror. We could do worse than to attach a large visual symbol to that focus.
Jay Evensen is editor of the Deseret News editorial page. E-mail: even@desnews.com