I see in some of the comments from U.S. Olympians an attitude they learned in sport that can help the rest of us in the country understand what greatness is. Athletes who have gotten to this level of accomplishment have a passion and love for their sport, and understand and value its traditions and standards of excellence. They are able to acknowledge where they fall short and what their own weaknesses are. They can learn from their failures and mistakes. This is how they improve and eventually become great. 

Their responses to reporters’ questions concerning how they feel about what is going on in our country reflect this same sensibility. The freestyle skier Hunter Hess recently posted on social media: “I love my country. There is so much that is great about America, but there are always things that could be better.” 

He posted this after an earlier press conference where athletes were asked how they felt about what is going on in the United States. The athletes took this to refer to recent actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Mr. Hess said that it brings up mixed emotions to represent the United States at the Olympics right now. “There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of,” he said. “And I think a lot of people aren’t. If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it. Just because I wear the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.” 

Mr. Hess’s response was complex and sincere, an honest reflection on what it means to him to be representing the United States at this time. And he was asked this question by the media. He didn’t call a press conference to make a statement. The question came at a time when ICE deployments have surged in some U.S. cities, including Minneapolis, where agents shot and killed U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Top government officials immediately gave accounts of these shootings that were contradicted in important ways by what could be seen in multiple videos. Their accounts also characterized Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti as responsible for their own deaths.  

Mr. Hess’s approach made me think of G. K. Chesterton’s line: “Love is not blind; that is the last thing it is. Love is bound; and the more it is bound the less it is blind.” For Chesterton, cities and countries become great only when they are loved “without any earthly reason.” This primary devotion and loyalty to a place is a source of creative energy. But such love also acknowledges shortcomings. A person who has a genuine love of country in this sense is interested in knowing what our weaknesses are and how we need to change to become great.

In the wake of the comments by Mr. Hess, Donald Trump called him “a real Loser” and said “he said he doesn’t represent his Country” in the Olympics. The president said that if this is the case, Mr. Hess shouldn’t have tried out for the team and “it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” 

Mr. Trump understands greatness differently from the U.S. athletes. He has a very hard time admitting that he failed or made a mistake. He told the big lie that his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden was stolen, and he continues to peddle this lie up to the present. It has now become part of the “organized lying” in segments of his administration and among some of his allies. It was the rationale for the F.B.I. seizing sensitive voting records from the 2020 election in Fulton County, Ga., recently. If the president was able to admit that he lost to Joe Biden, he might be able to learn something from it and grow as a person and a leader. But the lying keeps him stuck where he is. 

Similarly, if the president could listen to voices in our country that are critical of him and his policies and reflect on his leadership, he may find areas he decides to change. He might improve as a leader. Instead, he usually just lashes out at anyone who suggests he has made a mistake. 

Lying doesn’t only keep the president from improving. It also does damage to our society. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting on the eighth commandment, which states that a person should not bear false witness against their neighbor, points out that “lying is the most direct offense against the truth,” and “[w]hen it is made publicly, a statement contrary to the truth takes on a particular gravity.” 

The catechism continues: 

Since it violates the virtue of truthfulness, a lie does real violence to another. It affects his ability to know, which is a condition of every judgment and decision. It contains the seed of discord and all consequent evils. Lying is destructive of society; it undermines trust among people and tears apart the fabric of social relationships (No. 2486). 

Lying is not how we become great as a nation. The U.S. Olympic athletes can teach us at this moment that goodness, in the sense of having the honesty and humility to acknowledge our failures and mistakes, is required if we want to improve and become great. I hope they can now turn their attention fully to the sports they love and embody this for us without further distractions. 

I am all for the United States being great. But it is increasingly clear we are going to have to start by being good again. 

Patrick Kelly, S.J., is holder of the Heider Chair at Creighton University. He has consulted with Vatican offices for many years regarding their engagement with sport. His most recent book is Play, Sport and Spirit (Paulist Press, 2023).