Going Home

...it's whether you play the game

All we had was a ball, and then some make-shift bases. We had been talking it over for awhile -- what could we organize for the younger children on sports Sundays (while the older set played baseball, basketball or football)? Limited equipment, different ages and skill levels were the gist of discussions, but the desire to keep things simple, and a bunch of enthusiastic children, resulted an impromptu game of kickball and another enjoyable afternoon in the park.

In my amusement, as a couple of young cat-and-mouse competitors rounded their way around the bases -- slightly out of bounds –- actually they were rounding the garden, which was way out of bounds –- a couple of thoughts crossed my mind:

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I thought about how healthy and active these children are –- breaking the trend of Michigan statistics for overweight/under-active children. There may be others in neighboring houses sitting around playing video games, but I doubt many.

We had been playing for quite some time, and not once did anyone stop to ask what the score was. Initially, in an attempt to be the responsible adult, I started keeping track of the runs coming in, but quickly realized it didn't matter to anyone. Yes, we did keep track of the "outs" so we could switch things up, but we were all enjoying the game too much to let something like "the score" get in the way.

As one who had spent many hours in Thanksgiving weekend shop-'til-you-drop mode, I have to wonder if we can strike the right balance, where children don't have an over abundance of "stuff," yet we make sure that all our children have enough of the basics to enjoy a wonderful quality of life -- it really doesn't take much.

We can all see where the complex schemes of the financial wizards, executive greed, and buying into a consumer economy frenzy have gotten us -- Pandora is definitely out of the box. But is it possible to get back to basics?

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: Mike Wisniewski [Member] · http://lacatholicworker.org

Greetings of peace, Chris,

I believe it is possible to get back to basics, but not before this abominable, corrupt, and bankrupt system crashes, which, apparently, will happen soon, very soon, hopefully! Yes, you are absolutely correct, it does not take much to enjoy a wonderful, quality life. This is why the capitalist, free-market consumer-society is so evil. Some have an over abundance while others starve. Sick and perverted indeed! God have mercy on US!

Peace, Mike W.

Permalink 09/22/08 @ 17:20

Comment from: geraceyvette [Member]

Can we get back to basics? The kids,adults? Sure we can because we all have a little something called "Free Will". Hopefully technology has not poisoned our kids minds too much; that given the kids a choice between a brand new huge appliance box to roll in, or a video game, they'd choose the box. Some adults have been forced back to the basics simply because of the economy. Some will embrace it while enjoying the "simple games" with thier children. Then there are those who will cheat and raise thier kids to cheat. We can't fix everything but try like hell and only more good can come of it, even if Pandora is in the way. It's a matter of God, Parenting, Love, and Hope. Yes?

Permalink 09/22/08 @ 22:45