Ping!
My assistant coach hit a practice grounder to the left side of the pitcher’s mound. Our shortstop shifted his weight slightly, caught the ball in his glove and tossed it up just past his shoulder. He snatched it out of the air with his bare hand and fired a throw to first. The first baseman had to stretch his glove down the foul line to make the catch but managed to keep his foot on the base. I pursed my lips slightly but kept quiet.
Ping!
Coach hit another ground ball, this time to third. The third baseman moved to his right to catch the ball backhanded with his glove, made a quick 360-degree turn as he transferred the ball to his other hand and threw the ball as hard as he could. I watched the ball sail into the outfield and decided I’d seen enough.
“Hey!” I yelled. “Everybody bring it in for a minute.”
The team jogged over to me and looked up expectantly.
“Look,” I began, “we don’t need flashy plays here. This isn’t Sportscenter; nobody’s making the Top Ten Plays or Web Gems and we don’t get any extra points for style. Just make the play.”
I heard a number of chuckles, mixed with some slight groans and an, “Aww man!” from the team.
“Seriously!” I pressed. “I want boring! Give me the most boring, straightforward plays you can make. I don’t want to see Derek Jeter throwing the ball as he jumps and spins. I want to see you field the ball cleanly, set your feet, make a solid throw to get the out, and I want to yawn!”
The players laughed as they returned to their positions to continue practicing.
This past week, unfortunately, has been anything but boring.
Hamas’ surprise attack against the Israeli citizens last Saturday morning shocked the world. The idea of a terrorist organization attacking Israel wasn’t the biggest surprise; terrorists have targeted Israel since its establishment in 1948. Their “success rate” has varied; Israel has, for better or for worse, become quite adept at defending itself against terrorism.
But this particular attack was on a larger scale than ever before, both in terms of casualties and cruelty. Over 1000 Israelis were killed over the initial weekend and the current death toll has risen over 1300. Over the past week, Hamas has launched more than 5000 rockets into Israel; for comparison, Hamas took fifty days to fire the same number into Israel in 2014.
And, as if that were not enough, groups of individual terrorists also abducted and murdered people who were dancing at a music festival, waiting at bus stops and otherwise living their lives.
A therapy patient spoke about the Hamas attacks during our session this week. She knew, for the most part, how she felt most comfortable speaking about Israel and Hamas with the people closest to her. But she also felt frustrated with the complexities of the historical conflicts in the region. She was bewildered that one group of people could feel the need to inflict such harm on another.
“That’s part of the problem with living in interesting times,” I offered.
“Well, I wouldn’t mind a little simplicity for a bit,” she responded.
It’s hard to disagree with that sentiment.
Life has always been difficult. We face challenging situations at work and at home. We grapple with parenting dilemmas, social isolation and family heartbreak. And we continue to look for answers, even when none seem ready to reveal themselves.
But the last few years have felt different. It is not just the pandemic, although Covid certainly threw a wrench into any sense of routine or normalcy that we might have had. The last few years have felt… angrier, almost. There has been something in the air, in the water or in the space between us as people that has driven us out of our comfort zones and forced us into tension, mistrust and stress.
Admittedly, I’d be lying if I said I knew where we go from here (sorry, Axl Rose). After a quick check through my blog history, I was surprised at how frequently I’d written about “searching for answers.” Inevitably, I end up coming back to the same two concepts as before – Fred Rogers and Pirkei Avot – but even the helpers doing their part to repair the world have crises of faith sometimes.
I wish the answer were as straightforward as “live and let live.” I wish we could all stick to our own ideas, leave each other alone to follow our own customs and beliefs and just let each other be. At the end of the day, all anyone is really trying to do is just live their life.
Post by @mohuView on Threads
But how do we keep on living life when terrorists want nothing more than to destroy us?
There doesn’t seem to be a simple answer.
