Photo/Illutration Delegations of athletes arrive at the Trocadero during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on July 26. (Pool Photo via AP)

The base unit of length, 1 meter, was born in Paris during the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century.

It is said that the French politician Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord (1754-1838), commonly known as Talleyrand, proposed the idea of unifying the units of measurement across the world.

The standard for measuring length was based on the size of the Earth. One meter was initially defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator—a concept whose grandeur is astonishing.

The French scientific expeditions conducted in the 18th century to make the necessary measurements to determine the exact size and shape of the Earth were extremely dramatic and grueling journeys. There were threats of execution by guillotine and accommodations were often no better than cattle sheds.

The members of the geodesic mission calculated the distance between the equator and the North Pole by measuring the length of a meridian that runs between the northern and southern coasts through Paris.

The dramas that are currently unfolding in Paris, where the metric system was born, are often competitions over the tiniest differences in measurement—to a meter or even a millimeter.

The Paris Olympics have begun. I had heard that during the opening ceremony, athletes would sail down the Seine River, and I mistakenly thought each country would have one boat assigned to each of them. On reflection, that was obviously unnecessary.

Athletes in various uniforms and ethnicities stood side by side in the same boat, smiling. It was a fresh and festive scene, fitting for the celebration.

"What better place than Paris, to share this magic of the Olympic Games with the whole world,” said International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach in his speech at the Opening Ceremony.

But magic is just that—magic, not reality. Imagine how the world, engrossed in the Olympics, might appear to the eyes of the people in Ukraine and Gaza, whose lives are threatened at this very moment.

The circumference of the Earth is about 40,000 kilometers. This means that no matter how far away, we cannot live more than about 20,000 km apart from anyone else in any country.

We all should etch this unexpected “closeness” between people on the Earth in our hearts. Athletes from more than 200 countries and regions came together in the French capital, and the Olympic flame was lit under the night sky.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 28

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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