I rather like the Olympics - I attended both the Athens and Beijing Paralympics and I'm signed up to volunteer at London 2012. It's not a political, sporting or 'legacy' thing, I just find the enthusiasm and good will between attendees infectious… a reminder that somewhere in human nature there does exist the ability to get along. It's quite refreshing.
I also understand many people - for a variety of reasons - don't like the event. I respect those views and acknowledge there are plenty of valid criticisms to be made.
However, the Games will take place this summer. The venues are built, the volunteers recruited and tickets issued. The money is spent… Judging the value or worthiness of it all is an exercise we can return to afterwards. The money cannot be unspent and London's bid cannot 'un-win'.
Now we must make the best of it - regardless of our feelings for the Games or the institutions behind them. It would be a waste not to and gain for them is not our loss.
There's far more than 'wanting it' needed to deliver a successful Games and those that want to have now taken their roles, but to the eyes of a watching world the way the UK acts as hosts will make just as great an impression as the sporting competition.
When things go wrong - as they certainly will - hind-sight will be easy: it will be tempting to mock the mistakes, complain about inconvenience or even cause disruption to further personal agendas. But we can choose not to... to see the bigger picture and seek-out ways to fix what's broken (even when it's the organisers getting it wrong) rather than celebrating or exploiting it. It's often said that having problems doesn't matter, but how you deal with them. We should apply that collectively.
The respect earned by co-operating to make the most of this occasion - could equal any technical or sporting legacy.