FOWC with Fandango — Eclectic
Garry suggested it’s because we’ve become almost accustomed to their winning — or nearly winning — and thus we’ve become “ho-hum” about it. I don’t think so. I’m pleased the Patriots won. I’m glad they are champions again and I feel sorry for the little ones who have grown up with the Pats and the Sox winning more often than not and discovering that we aren’t going to win all the time forever.
But I could get excited. It was a nice thing for New England. I was pleased to be on the winning side — just not jumping up and down with enthusiasm.
Neither of us was and we both noticed our lack of energy. It was a bit odd. I also know parade day (tomorrow) will be good weather, but nothing really rang that “thrilling” bell.
Like other people, I’m a bit disappointed that our messy politics has gotten mixed with sports, but team owners (all teams, all sports) have held views which are different from my own. Politics has a way of seeping into everything, including sports and art.
At the risk of giving a civics lesson, this IS a pluralistic country. We are not a melting pot where we require everyone to dissolve and become the same as everyone else.
Like it or not, someone we otherwise respect is likely to favor the other side. Do we lock them out because they are not us? Is that where we are going?
Our differences are currently extreme, but I believe they won’t stay that way forever. Our current state of ill-grace doesn’t mean all other humans are unworthy and we should never listen to them. That’s a bad way to run a country and a terrible way to run America.
Robert Kraft is a decent guy. I’ve met him. Garry got to know him pretty well when he was working. That’s the thing about Garry: he had to work with both parties over the years. He liked some better than others, but his job wasn’t to pick and choose the ones he approved of and only work for them. He loathes Donald Trump and his sycophants, but he doesn’t necessarily hate all Republicans because they are on the red team.
Kraft is a Republican. This used to be normal. It was not a reason to hate someone. Robert Kraft raised personal objections to Trump’s attitudes towards sports and other actions of the president — and note that the Patriots did NOT go to the White House. Actually, none of the teams except the one that got mountains of el cheapo hamburgers went. They are probably still suffering from massive acid reflux. Yuck.
Did the prez not think they could afford their own hamburgers? Or did he fail to understand there exist other, better restaurants that could have delivered a nice dinner for the team? And even though MacDonald’s burgers are his favorite food, they might not be everyone else’s favorites?
The point is, we have a pluralistic nation which I fondly hope is going to remain so.
If we lock every door to anyone who disagrees with us politically, we will never find a way to be one nation. I’m no fancier of the GOP, but I understand pluralism is the nature of this land. If we lose that, we have lost ourselves.
So I’m trying with all my might to keep the windows and doors open. If a fresh idea blows in the wind, I might want to waft with it. I hope my brain is able to accept the possibility that something I haven’t yet thought of might turn out to be a good idea.
Let’s not hate so much that we forget other people also think and sometimes, they think a good thought. It’s the only hope we’ve got as a country. It’s the only hope the world has to not become a preview of the next world war.
We cannot afford to lose pluralism as our center.
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Categories: #FOWC, Daily Prompt, Fandango's One Word Challenge, Politics
This sounds like “mindfulness” to me.
Leslie
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It is hard to get this information to people who are dug into hatefulness. There’s plenty to hate and some of it, I hate too. But I also know that there’s a lot left to love. I loathe Trump and his cohorts, but they are not the only people who dn’t agree with me and I’m not going to hate them all.
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🙂
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I was astounded by the game. I had thought it was conceivable that LA might blow NE out because their NEED to win should have been greater than NE- the psychological factor. But there was little evidence of it. I’m not sure LA was awful in the first 3 quarters, but the NE pass defence was incredible. YET it was still only 3 – 0. BUT there was nobody to throw to. YET two LA receivers dropped TD passes that were in their hands. That was the Game right there. Amazing to watch all the way around.
The first 3 quarters was about the worst Super Bowl I’ve ever watched – if it hadn’t been such a chess game.
So much can be said, but in the end it was Brady and NE’s experience that won the day.
Like the guy said about Brady: “Take a good look folks, You’ll never see this again.”
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We skipped the first half because Garry is superstitious about sports. And the Patriots are known for winning in the final few minutes, no matter what happened before. I thought it was a strange game and probably was won by the Pats experience and knowledge of how to dig out of a hole. And I admit it, I rather like Kraft and always have. He’s basically a good guy. If we start hating anyone who doesn’t agree with us, we are surely doomed — and not just on the playing field!
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A friend wrote a book. It is short and fast read. It is titled “Catalysis A Recipe to Slow Down or Abort Humankind’s Leap to War” Alice LombardoMaher, M.D.
It is a little less expensive from http://www.IPBooks.net, but Amazon has it too.
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I’ll take a look. We are so terribly close to war and I think most people don’t even see it.
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Yes we are. And both sides blame the other. So scary.
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