The Olympics have been around for centuries, and can teach one many lessons like the one found in “The Olympic Contradiction” by David Brooks. In his passage, Brooks talks about all the aspects of the Olympic Games. He first explains how the athletes and people from all over come together and cooperate to create the most amazing celebration possible. This friendship exemplified makes them seem inseparable; however, the cooperation is short lived because the rivalry and competition begin shortly after. The competitors are no longer friends, and are not smiling in one another's presence. Instead, their mind is set on one goal, competing to winning the most medallions for their home country at all costs. This occurrence in the Olympics is used by the author to effectively portray his point. In order to prove that embracing contradiction should be considered positive rather than negative, …show more content…
After presenting the truth found in the Olympics, Brooks quickly shifts how this truth can be applied in real life. He mentions how the Procter & Gamble executives “thought the company needed to cut costs and lower prices to compete with the supermarket store brands. Another group thought the company should invest in innovation to keep their products clearly superior. Lafley embraced both visions, pushing hard in both directions” (Brooks 3). Here, the author clearly presents that one should embrace contradiction because it likely helped Lafley’s business flourish. The quality of his merchandise would have decreased drastically in comparison to supermarkets had he focused on simply lowering the prices; likewise, had he spent time only on making his products the most superior on the market, the prices would have been outrageous. Because focusing on only one aspect can be detrimental, it is obvious that contradiction should be embraced because it can create a perfect middle