It's easy to be ambivalent about the Beijing Olympics. On the one hand there is the Chinese government - its atrocious human rights record, the repressive, heavy handed and too often brutal treatment it has visited upon its own people in preparing for the games, the contempt it has shown for the international community and sports fans with its visa policies, the bombastic, arrogant prevaricating of its spokespersons. On the other hand, there are the Chinese people, who generally support their government, but whose opinions were never sought when it came to Olympic planning or deciding what the games might mean for China. Like thousands and thousands of Beijing people, this retired man, an Olympic volunteer, is nonetheless doing his part to make successful an event which, at best, is a mixed blessing for ordinary people like him. And whatever one may think of his government, it is impossible not to wish him and his fellow citizens the best for a great Olympics.