Dear People,
It is Friday morning and we are still far from the necessary quorum for Sunday's game. I must confess that I thought I had finally assured organizational stability over these past few weeks, and that my days of being forced to grovel for additional last minute commits was over. As you know, I do not feel personally degraded when down on my knobby little knees, but I do get a patina of lugubrious angst when I ruminate on the harsh realities that such bending suggests.
Indeed, just yesterday I was reading the Times and looking at this amazing front page photo of hundreds of black South Africans lining up to vote with the telling caption "Just as Cherished the Second Time Around." It made me think that while in certain places they still savor the hard fought gains, we in turn appear to lumber from one field to the next like so many head of athletically waning cattle, the fire in our loins flickering listlessly into the torpid shamelessness of recreational indifference.
I know I'm being critical, but there are 120+ potential players out there, and I suspect that if you stop and think about it, each and every one of you will realize that a finely crafted game of mirth-laden softball is also a privilege to be cherished. Yes, the simple fact is that when you reject this precious kinesioligcal endeavor in order to spend some "quality hours" with the spouse or take your kids to the doctor or engage in some other dubious expenditure of time, you're essentially saying that you don't really care about democracy.
I understand that the truth can hurt, but it's not to late to make that commit. So this morning, on the 10th anniversary of Tienanmen, do it for Nelson Mandela, Thomas Paine AND Burleigh "stubblebeard" Grimes, three true giants in humanity's march toward superlative pitching and representative governance...Raymond