Here at the Intramuralist, we talk about everything… life, love, sports, politics, social media, common culture, current events. There is nothing we won’t talk about… albeit always, hopefully respectfully.
That’s our mantra… join us. Talk with us. Share what you’re thinking — as loud or passionate as that may be. As long as we are always aware that another non-idiotic other may feel differently than we, we can have the hard conversation.
But too many… too often… for too many possibly thinly guised, often unknown, yet self-focused reasons, justify something lesser. They justify the disrespect.
The truth is, I get it. For I, too, am prone to disrespect.
Hear me here…
It is no secret that this semi-humble current events, etal. observer is not a fan of the New England Patriots. I have never been overwhelmingly impressed by head coach Bill Belichick’s conversational skills nor leader Tom Brady’s effervescent humility.
So much so, that on Sunday evening, when the Patriots finally fell to the Denver Broncos and QB Peyton Manning (… full disclosure notice: I have always loved Manning — although not as much as my older brother), but in that moment I was truly tempted to tweet one thing: “Take that, you Patriots!”
Take that.
And then I remembered something…
I remembered my respected friends who actually are Patriots fans. I remembered their sweet young, impressionable kids who are also Patriots fans. I remembered that there are many good, wise, well-thinking people I respect who think and feel differently than me. I remembered, too, that I don’t know everything about Belichick and Brady. I have never met them. I am basing my passionate opinion off of nothing more than incomplete information. Sometimes passion blinds us to that.
I can thus only conclude one thing: there is no place for “take that.”
Yes… what an arrogant, judgmental thing for me to think and potentially say.
It reminded me of an Election Day several years back, when a trusted friend drove by after casting her vote. “Woooohoooo!” was her glee-laden yell, muffled only by the accompanying series of enthusiastic honks from her car horn. She was thrilled at the possibility of the person she voted for becoming president.
There’s just one catch…
When she drove by — as we had several excellent, thought-provoking discussions beforehand — she knew my vote was not going to be cast in the same direction. She knew, in some sense, we would actually be cancelling one another out. But she also knew that I would celebrate her and her enthusiasm. Being happy for her and having my own opinion are not incompatible emotions.
Hence, there was no “take that” from either of us.
Too many… too often…
Justify the “take that”… in life, love, sports, politics, social media, common culture, current events…
We forget that there exist many good, wise, well-thinking other people who feel differently than we do.
Respectfully…
AR