In March Tibetans hosted a weeklong protest what they see as a Chinese occupation of their country. In response, China violently acted against the protesters, burning buildings and even killing protesters. In my opinion these actions by the Chinese government were deplorable.

A month later the Olympic torch has arrived in the United States and protesters have met them as they did in other countries. Some countries have promised to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, and our own president is debating that course of action, but as of yet has said he will not boycott the games. I never thought I would say this, but I agree with our president, though probably not for the same reason.

The ancient Olympic games were held so all Greek city-states could come together once every four years, despite political differences, and have a friendly and peaceful competition. It was a welcomed break from the constant struggle for power and warfare that existed in Greek society at the time.

We still live in a world of constant conflict, but every four years we strive to come together and have the same friendly, peaceful competition. We remember that beyond arbitrary borders and political divides we are all members of a global community of men and women. Every four years we try to put the weapons down, stop the fighting and for a few weeks the entire world shares a connection that isn’t made of blood, bullets or pain.

Now we are contemplating a boycott of the Olympic games in China. As if 1,444 straight days of conflict was not enough, we want to continue the endless fighting.

In my opinion Tibetans should have religious freedom and independence from China, but I do not think that boycotting the Olympic games is the proper outlet for change.

By boycotting these games who is really being hurt? Is it the Chinese government? The monetary loss will be significant, but not crippling, and China will continue on the same path of injustice. Who is really going to suffer? The athletes and the people of China.

Olympic athletes compete for little more than the honor of winning a medal. There is no professional track or javelin team. All these athletes live for is the once-in-a-lifetime chance to say they were the best in the world at an event. Boycotting these games probably wouldn’t force China to free Tibet, but it will crush the dreams of hundreds of athletes around the world.

Another victim of the protests is the Chinese people and hope for a future China that will work with Western countries. L. Ling-chi Wang, a professor of Asian-American and ethnic studies at UC-Berkeley, said in an editorial for CNN that the Chinese people are motivated and excited to host the first Olympic games in China.

“This project aspires to engage the world and to incentivize further reform in China,” Wang said. “More than 200 million Chinese, for example, are learning English and the torch relay will be greeted by all China’s provinces and major cities before reaching Beijing.”

Wang fears that a boycott of the games will reverse China’s recent reforms and threaten the diplomatic progress western countries and China have made.

“If this should happen, it will be a major setback for the 1.3 billion people in China and for world peace and prosperity,” Wang said. “[Protests] may even incite Chinese xenophobia and nationalism and result in decisions to retreat from its increased openness to and engagement with the West.”

Do we want to close the doors to diplomacy with the Chinese government and leave them to continue their attacks on the freedom of Tibetans, Mongolians, Hmongs, Muslims and other ethnic groups or do we keep the doors open and work for real change?

Every country has had a history of discriminating against certain ethnic groups, including our own. But slavery was ended when we came together after a war that tore us apart. More than one hundred years later we still struggle with issues of equality, but it was not segregation that helped Americans of all races come together, it was the work of extraordinary people to unify us, to force the injustices of our society in our faces and to gradually push us towards improvement. We are not there yet. China is not there yet, but what we need to do is talk to China, reason with China and show them their injustices, not simply ignore them and hope that they get the idea.