As the Olympic Games of 2024 have come to a close in Paris, the news headlines start to shift again. For more than two weeks we’ve had a break in the steady stream of bad news, problems, and sense of pressure. During these two weeks, there was something to care for, to hope for, and to celebrate. It was what much of the media included in their news and brought our attention to.

What the Olympic Games also taught us, was that having a break from bad news isn’t happening through the resolution of the bad news or good news. It happened through news that we found engaging, that made us curious and invited us to enjoy the outcome. While everyone could cheer for one’s own nation it didn’t mean one had to be negative about other nations.

As the news focus moves back to a steady stream of negativity, one that easily grabs our attention, it may be worth remembering what good news looked like during the Olympic Games.

They were the engaging ones.

They had nothing to do with the polarity between good and bad. They didn’t assume that we had to be on a specific side. That we could only cheer for one country. Or even, that it was all about France highlighting their greatness.

They assumed that we could choose what we would be interested in. That any athlete and sport could be worth celebrating. That celebrating the medals, and the winners was only one element of the games. They accepted that not everyone would find everything perfect they did.

The challenge of a polarized experience is that it seems to create a forced choice. When one is, for example, submerged with news that feels bad, anxiety-provoking, and consists of problems, the natural desire is that they go away, or that they become good. It’s not possible or at least difficult to develop a different opinion about them. It’s difficult to see them from a different perspective and within a larger context. They seem fixed as if nothing good can emerge from them. Or, as if nothing will ever change their appreciation of them.