No, I didn't watch any football yesterday, but it wasn't so much the Veterans' Day boycott, it's a complete lack of interest. I was pleased, however, seeing half-empty stadiums. There's a circus-like appeal and dramatic attraction but I no longer have any real pleasure in it, and I think the hype cooked up towards the masculine imagination is phoney.
Very long story short, I wish I hadn't wasted so much of my young life playing sports and since feeling almost obligated to follow them. It's rather nostalgic until one does realize it's merely somehow compensatory of not having much of a life of one's own hence quite a lot of projection.
I recall the enthusiasm for the late baseball season. It commenced as a social involvement and I day-dreamed about the DBacks going all the way (Shades of the Mets in 1969... the bliss.) and sharing the experience with someone I loved, further day-dreaming about fondly remembering it in the future with a friend for life. Like, was I expecting a miracle? I ginned myself up a delusional notion is all.
I suppose that's the redeeming quality - the shared experience and bonding. But it was all in my head. Hence, solitary as I am and utterly checked by reality, not much enthused. Same can be said for the vain-glory of such martial commemorations. All for what?
I remember going to American Legion assemblies on Veterans' Day when a child. The older fellows would commence the ceremony with an Honor Guard and anthemic salutations, then a bell would ring and the MC would intone, "Upon the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month the guns were silent..." the rhetoric proceeding from there. That was 'The War to End All Wars". Sure.
Why don't they have an Anti-war Day? See it all for what it is. Envy. Greed. Prestige. Revenge. Murder. Wars and rumors thereof. But, still, can't help but feel conflicted.
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