But not any more; ever since the World Trade Center fell and 9/11 happened, we get “God Bless America.” Now I love America as much as anybody else, although if you listen to Fox News they will tell me I don’t, but I’m ready to move on and I have been for some time. I saw what happened that day. I was an adult with access to a TV. Was it tragic? It was. Did it resonate on a personal level? It did. I used to live in New York City and my apartment was in SoHo and I could see the World Trade Center from my apartment. I interviewed for a job at Shearson Lehman on the 107th floor. My brother worked in the building for Dean Witter for many years. He lost a few very good friends there that day. I got engaged at “Windows on the World” at the top of the World Trade Center so believe me, I get it.
But am I going to stop living? Aren’t we supposed to move on from tragedy? Are we supposed to let it define us forever? I know people lost loved ones that day and yet, they don’t have a monopoly on pain. It was a wasteful, tragic way to die. So is war. So are car wrecks. So are suicide and drug overdoses. They’re all tragic. But what’s even more tragic is living in it, wallowing in it, and letting it be “what you are.” I understand that in 2001 when this happened, that especially in New York when they sang the song it was amazing and honestly, I got chill bumps hearing them sing God Bless America at the seventh inning stretch.
It’s been 9 years. Baseball is the American Pasttime. The seventh inning stretch is part of baseball. When are we going to get our Pasttime back? When are we going to move on? One of the most important lessons I’ve ever taught my kids is that life moves on. I haven’t talked about it yet but the day my mom died was one of the “funniest” days of my life. I decided to teach my kids a lesson that life moves on and it was an unmitigated disaster, but that’s ok, because nobody ever said moving on was supposed to be easy…or painless.
So what say ye? Aren’t you tired of dwelling on sadness? Aren’t you ready to move on? Let’s take baseball back and sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” or if you’re really lucky and you’re part of Red Sox Nation, “Sweet Caroline.” I mean, who’s really winning when you give up? Not us. The terrorists who caused this situation win. They’ve taken us out of our game. I realize that this might not be a popular opinion and it is certainly not politically correct, but I’m not really a popular person and sometimes you have to say what you mean and get ready for the backlash. So “Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack, I don't care if I never get back, Let me root, root, root for the home team, If they don't win it's a shame. For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out, At the old ball game."
