I love sports. I love playing sports. I love watching sports. I love the atmosphere at a sporting event. The energy you can feel just by being there. The excitement of competition and the rivalries that can make you jump for joy or sometimes leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth. I think my favorite thing about sports is how it can bring such diverse communities together. Whether you’re white or black, rich or poor, young or old, when you see people out on the street sporting your teams colors, all it takes is a head nod or a “Go [whoever]” to create a bond. It’s that easy.
The World Cup begins this week in Brazil and, for a brief moment in time, our nation gets to root for the same team. Much like the Olympics, we get to be on the same side, sharing a common goal. To me that is very special because it has the potential to be such a positive experience for all of us. It saddens me to say this but I feel that we, as a nation, rarely get to experience such unity. Think about this century, post Y2K life in America. There are very few times I can recall where I’ve felt that we as a country stood together and bonded over something. The Olympics (8 of them so far) and World Cups (4 if you count this year’s) are big ones and are certainly very positive contributors to our national pride (despite whatever the outcomes were) but I think they pale in comparison to one particular tragedy.
I can remember rolling out of bed, possibly behind schedule for my morning routine, and being called into my parents’ bedroom where the television was on the news. As the TV came into sight, images of people running in the streets, planes crashing into buildings and towers collapsing became engrained in my mind. I can recall a brief moment of confusion before I could really process what had happened. I went to school and everyone was speechless. How could this happen to us?
The events of September 11, 2001 left us in a state of shock and fear. We were afraid because we didn’t have answers to the questions of who would do such a terrible thing and, more importantly, why? Fear lies in the unknown, in the darkness, and can be all-consuming, especially in moments of loneliness and isolation. But as the dust settled and hours turned to days something began to change. People began to realize that they weren’t alone in their fear and that all of us were in this together. We, as a nation began to cope together and slowly that fear that left us feeling alone and scared began to bring us together. We bonded in our communities, pulling out our American Flags and posting them in front of our homes, on our cars and on our clothing to show our neighbors that we stood with one another, together, in unity. Despite the tragedy we would not let these events tear us apart and make us weak, but we would use these events to strengthen our bond and make us a more solid country. We would get back on the same team as a nation, as a community and as a people.
As the years have passed that feeling has dwindled down. You can see it in how divided our leadership is and how we have ignored the needs of the most important people in this nation: ALL of us. Every single one of us. We have such advanced technology, medicine and innovation yet we do not have the ability to provide and take care of the basic needs and rights of our citizens. We are so connected and have so much exposure to the world than in the days before the internet, television or even radio, yet we continue to ignore the desperate cries of those sitting next to us. We’ve become obsessed with instant gratification that we neglect to even consider long-term consequences of our actions, or worse, our inactions.
Just hours ago another shooting occurred at a high school just outside of Portland, Oregon. The story seems all too familiar to other recent events that took place in Las Vegas and Isla Vista: innocent victims who were killed; innocent victims with physical and undoubtedly emotional wounds; and a guilty culprit (or two) who cannot take responsibility for his actions and is no longer alive to shed light on the darkness that transpired. More families and communities have been broken at the hands of a person whose intentions may never be quite clear. How could this happen? Gun control advocates will have something to say as well as mental health advocates and they have every right to do so. I, like so many others, am angry, saddened and scared and I believe SOMETHING must be done but, unlike so many others, I don’t believe it’s something legislation or the government can really fix.
These tragedies are problems that every single citizen needs to take responsibility for and we all need to take ownership in coming to a solution. These tragedies will not go away with the simple signing of a law. It’s our responsibility as citizens of this free nation to make acceptance, cooperation and understanding a priority. We need to show one another respect, love and compassion so that future generations believe that it’s the right way to act. We need to care for one another; to empathize so that we may understand those who are hurting; to be aware of those around us and have the courage to speak up and take action when we know something or someone isn’t right. Our youth are growing up in a society where these tragedies occur so often that they will believe it is just the way things are here. HERE! In the United States of America! How is that acceptable to us? How are we standing by and letting this be the new norm?
We need to change our mentality in this country; we need to refocus on achieving a common goal and we need to firmly believe that we can attain that goal together. James Truslow Adams was an American writer and historian who, in his book The Epic of America stated that the American dream is “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability of achievement…It is not a dream of motor cars and high wagers merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”
Imagine that we live in a society where we work together to achieve this dream. Where we respect and care for one another so we could all reach the top together. When will we as a nation start to truly act that we are, in fact, on the same team? When will we see each other on the street and nod to one another, knowing that we share a common goal. How many tragedies will it take to make our bonds as neighbors, as Americans, strong enough to start actually caring about the well-being of every citizen? How can we expect our youth to respect and love one another and embrace the beautiful diversity that our freedom affords us if we cannot show them how to do so?
We cannot go back in time and change history to prevent what events have already transpired. We clearly haven’t done enough to keep these tragedies from occurring but to give up now or continue to ignore our fundamental problems could perhaps be the greatest tragedy of all. I pray for the day that apathy disappears, sympathy is no longer needed and, most importantly, empathy is an American way of life.
mattbbaum 
Well said, thanks, Matt