Play Ball, America

A major lesson from the minor leagues

Dick Summer moved from a distinguished radio career, into a semi-retirement sustained by three great loves: his wife (aka Wonder Wench), piloting his own single engine plane, and continuing to make magic in front of microphones... Plus a lifelong baseball obsession.

I'm a regular listener to his weekly Good Night podcast, just as I wanted to catch what he had to say when I was within radio range.

The podcast is normally filled with the kind of fun things he did on the radio. But when he said "I'd like to make the Fearful Fringe feel safe" I found something more serious I wanted to share.

Dick Summer's website and blog.

---

"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you. Much fear in the world, I sense."
-- Jedi Master Yoda (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 1999)

Did you notice that the menace is a phantom?

In 12-step recovery programs, where they seem to have acronyms for everything, fear = False Evidence Appearing Real.

Those who would exploit that fiction for their own political ends are playing with a dangerously furious, fact-free, fear-fueled firestorm... And those of us who live in the West know how frequently & easily even "controlled burns" get out of hand.

I suspect none of us here are old enough to remember both gentlemen, but we'd be wise to read & heed their words:

“It is easier to believe a lie that one has heard a thousand times than to believe a fact that no one has heard before.”
--H.L. Mencken (American journalist/social critic 1880-1956)

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt (First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933)

I, too, sense much fear in the world.

So savor & cherish those moments that remind us a truly United States of America is an awesome thing to be part of & behold... Then, "Play ball!"