Now What Do We Do?

There's an election in five days, quite possibly the most important election of my lifetime. The outcome could determine whether this country regains its status as a genuine world power, honors its commitment to freedom at home and abroad, and provides genuine opportunities for people to live healthy, financially secure lives, or send George Bush back to Washington to continue dismantling the Constitution and just generally screw things up royally. Right now, today, at this very moment, I couldn't care less about that, because I just watched something happen that hasn't happened since 1918. I have been a lifelong Red Sox fan, as has my dad, as was my grandfather. I watched Carlton Fisk will the ball to stay fair and win game 6 in extra innings, only to lose game 7 in yet another heartbreaker in 1976. I watched Bucky Dent hit his home run in 1978. I watched bob Stanley throw a wild pitch, and then watched the ball roll through Bill Buckner's legs in 1986. I was watching last year when Aaron Goddamn Boone launched the Sox into their winter homes in game 7. To those who think to themselves "It's just a baseball game, who cares," yeah, okay, I know it's not life and death, but it is a symbol for people who keep hanging on, year after year, never losing faith that someday, they will find a way to overcome the failures of the past and come out on top. I've yelled, and screamed, and vowed never again to be taken in, but I always came back, because they were always good enough to make me want to keep watching and believing. This time, after 35 years, my patience was rewarded. None of the past failures and heartbreaks means anything now, except as a monument to perserverance. Right now, I'm just too damn happy to care about the election.

And by the way, to those Yankees fans who are already minimizing this championship and saying "Call us when you win 20 more," you guys should learn to stop living in the past, like we just did.