By Kenny Zhang

Things end but memories last forever. It is true when it comes to my memories of heroes at the Olympic Games hosted in my hometown.

Working from home these days, phone calls, in addition to emails and Zoom meetings, have replaced office meetings or coffee chats to link to the rest of the world.

My phone number has "2010" as the last four digits, a number I purposely picked when Vancouver was chosen to host 2010 Winter Olympics.

The phone is still active. The handpicked number is to be kept for my lifetime as a special souvenir for a Vancouverite.

Walking into my living room, a fine framed picture is hung on the wall right above the piano that my boy used to play and practise on when he was preparing for the Royal Conservatory of Music examinations.

The picture is special. A triumphant image taken by an official photographer captured the whole of Canada men’s hockey team in their red and white jerseys celebrating right after they won the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Gold medal. The picture always reminds me of proud Canadians.

What makes this frame uniquely notable to my families and friends is not just that the group photo is officially licensed and series-numbered by Hockey Canada and the photo producer. It is also mounted and surrounded by 23 beautifully designed jersey badges of the national hockey heroes, from Roberto Luongo who was my favorite goaltender at that time, to Sidney Crosby, who scored the game-winning goal in overtime.

The end of a game is inevitable. But it wouldn’t even start if we didn’t go in the first place. That is why memories are shared among Canadians from Vancouver and Calgary to Montreal and beyond.

Polls taken during the Vancouver Winter Games suggested that the vast majority of Canadians believed the Olympics were uniting the country. Then prime minister Stephen Harper declared that the 2010 Games had elevated Canada on the world stage.

Not all memories are sweet ones though because one man’s meat is another’s poison. While 60,000 people gathered at B.C. Place Stadium celebrating the Games’ opening, more than 5,000 activists took to the downtown streets protesting the Games and demanding affordable homes, environmental protections, and social justice.

People may see things differently and keep memories selectively.

For example, a 2018 viral picture of Prince William "giving the middle finger" actually illustrated a happy father after his third child’s birth.

Through a light projection, a cylinder is seen as a circle when looking from the top, but appears as a rectangle or square from its side.

We call a flattened piece of print showing seven continents and four oceans a world map whereas the real Earth is a global sphere.

Canadians are often described as compassionate and compromising. Unlike others insisting on being either with us or against us, we disagree agreeably and can agree to disagree.

Waking up in the morning, I realize our fellow Canadians in the eastern regions have already been three hours ahead of me so I need to work hard to catch up. I also realize at least one-third of the population on the other side of the globe has gone to sleep. When they wake up they are going to run after me, so I have to work even harder to keep up.

I might not be alone in this regard. At least our athletes and coaches have been training days and nights for years to compete in the COVID-delayed Summer Games in Tokyo this year and the upcoming Winter Games in Beijing the next. They deserve this once-every-four-year opportunity.

Canadians embrace our national heroes, as well as their triumphant return from the Olympic Games.

What makes a hero? The movie Superman, Christopher Reeve, said, "A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."

To me, a hero is an ordinary individual who has done an unordinary job to achieve an extraordinary accomplishment.

In everyday life, they are just ordinary individuals, as our brothers or sisters, colleagues or friends.

Here, I have met one while waiting in the lobby of a bank that started supporting the Canadian Olympic team and athletes in 1947. It helped Canadian athletes get to the Winter Games the following year in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Once in a while, I go to an appointment with my long-time financial adviser to optimize my family's financial plan. In the very first meeting years ago, a fine framed photo on her office desk showing a young and beautiful female figure skater attracted my attention. Then I learned she was the girl in the picture and was also an Olympics veteran who competed in the Games some years ago.

This year, instead of meeting in person, I have to call her from my 2010 phone.

A handpicked phone number to framed pictures are some of the souvenirs that matter for a Vancouverite. What's even more important is the emotion of a Canadian’s passionate pride and patriotism.

Thank you, my heroes, Canadian Olympic athletes and coaches. Your speed, strength, and spirit will be remembered and carried on by my boy and his boys or girls.