2010 World Cup

There is a curved sidewalk that leads from the parking lot to the front door of where I work. Yesterday I took some sidewalk chalk and wrote "WELCOME" in big letters for everyone to walk over. This morning the sprinklers had erased a couple portions, and I promptly went back outside to fix it.

We are waiting for more footage before we can really get started for the day, so I'm sitting in my editor's room where, when I walked in, he had the television tuned the the 2010 World Cup coverage. I learned that the first game was going to start in half an hour. Watching the players take the field brought up an emotion I hadn't felt in some time, though I've spent more than half of my life as a soccer fan and player. Since grade school I played on community-based Saturday morning leagues and, when I was older, also on a school team that played against other districts. My first paying job was as a certified referee. Even though I spent a majority of the games sitting on the bench, I played throughout high school and maintained a dedication to the sport. After I graduated in 2005, soccer took a back seat to relationships and starting a career. Occasionally I would play with friends, but while I was physically a more capable player, the urge to keep at it just wasn't as strong. Last year my neighbor invited me to join in on casual indoor and outdoor games, and every time it was a chore to work myself up to participate. Of course, the feeling after every game was that I couldn't have spent my time in any better way.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the amount of time you dedicate to something does in large part dictate it's importance in your life. More than that, however, is the happiness that it brings you. Not because of anyone else's opinion of what you're doing: only your own.

Last night, after work, my friend and co-worker gave me a haircut. It was nice outside, so we set up a chair in the alley behind the shipping garage. Her hand-cut style was exactly what I was hoping for, and what I've got now is slightly different than anything I've ever had. We then drove to Red Lotus yoga in Rochester, where she has been training to become an instructor. I was pretty far-removed from a regular practice, but have found that despite only recently discovering it, yoga is an extremely important part of my life now. After we finished, the teacher gathered us around and initiated an enlightening discussion on the meaning of happiness in our lives. He expounded on the negatives of a consumer culture and while we must continue to buy or use possessions in order to demonstrate their value, we don't need to remind people that we love them. Our belongings cannot bring us the happiness that compassion and friendship can. He then posed to us the question, "what would you die for?" For several women, it was their children, while most of us hesitantly named people that we love. "What if there was a cause (that could elicit that kind of dedication)?", he asked us. In essence, I took what he was saying to mean that instead of a focused dedication to certain people in our life, what if we were that devoted to everyone? and more than that, what if humanity as a whole could adapt such a level of altruism? As practicers of yoga, he noted that we are humanity's radicals, just as Buddhists once were, and Christians before them.

While empathy and generosity are certainly virtues that I never plan to give up, I feel that I have been constantly relearning the other pivotal forces in my life. Not to say that soccer is near the top of the list, but it is something I have put a lot of time and energy into, and I don't believe any of it was wasted. Soccer is the world's most popular sport for a reason, and while watching the opening ceremonies I felt a strong urge to want to be there - to be a part of something so globally important.