The old ballgame at work

Hey Pops,

Well, I had the ballgame on the radio at work yesterday, for the first time in almost three years. I had been avoiding it since then, even though the Tigers play their share of afternoon games these days. It just didn't seem right. But today, well, it felt like the time.

Listening to Detroit beat Oakland sure brought back the memories. All the times that we would be in conversation only to stop talking when Ernie or Dan's voice would rise a decibel or gain excitement. We'd then forget what we were discussing to give quick cheers for the home run or great defensive play.

One of the runs we scored yesterday involved a runner on third who couldn't score because V-Mart's fly to left was too shallow. Yet Miggy was on first, and tagged to run to second. The cutoff man took the throw from left and threw to second without checking Martinez back to third. He streaked home to score on that toss to second, and Miggy ended up safe himself. You would have gotten a kick out of that unusual play.

A particular memory which came to mind was that game where Fister was pitching against the Royals and struck out nine in a row. I think even Phil got into it, though he's not the baseball fan we are. We laughed and cheered more impressively at each whiff, and were almost stonily silent between pitches, our anticipation growing, only to laugh harder when the announcer described Fister's confusion at the boos which greeted the tenth batter's ground out. He hadn't realized the record he'd just set.

Anyway, I think I'll have that old radio on again every time the Tigers have a weekday afternoon game. It's been silly that I've avoided listening for so long.

Until the next game, we'll see ya Pops.

Diversity isn't necessarily a strength

Many a car can be found adorned with bumper stickers which read 'celebrate diversity' or a like sentiment. April, it seems, has become Celebrate Diversity month (great: another holiday season Hallmark can co-opt). There's nothing wrong with diversity so far as it goes, perhaps. But I cannot help but wonder exactly how far it's supposed to go.

If what you mean by recognizing diversity is what I call small 'd' diversity, I have no argument. If there weren't different people with different interests and abilities then an awful lot of great and necessary things would not get done. We couldn't even play baseball if everyone were a catcher. But if you mean, as has been said in various quarters, that our diversity makes us strong, then I am not so sure I can agree with you. I'm not convinced that diversity as such is a valid basis for our thoughts and actions.

What makes us strong as a nation and as individuals is an underlying unity which we all accept as the rock upon which society is built. What we bring to the table, so to speak, should be small-d diversity, innovations which will help strengthen and improve that unity. It is only when we concede that diversity is a tool of unity that we might make persons and societies better.

So if what you mean by diversity are things contrary to that unity, ideals which will harm or destroy the body politic or personal responsibility, then it is not something we should want. If by diversity we mean to accept and appreciate cannibals and cannibalism, then we should not celebrate it. Aristotle did not appreciate the diversity offered by the barbarian hoards who raided northern Greece, nor should that have been expected of him.

I fear that many of the folks who wish us to celebrate diversity wish us to do exactly that: accept diversity as a guiding light, as a principle in itself rather than being subject to unity. It is a hedgerow behind which folks sneak beliefs into our system which will hurt or kill it in the long run. It allows for ideas which will lower the individual into a mere animal. We are better off celebrating a positive, rational unity. It allows us to see what unites rather than divides, because it is in union where there's strength. In capital-D diversity, we are just so many grains of sand, drifting into this or that form as the winds decide.

Not cute, adorable creatures at all

Tonight, after work, I get to work some more. One of the problems with living in the city is the number of squirrels that need places to live. The large furry rats seem particularly adept at finding the worst possible place to homestead.

Such as the rafters in my house. This evening I will be repairing the fifth hole in my roof line where the obnoxious and definitely not cute little rodents have chewed their way into my humble abode. Obnoxious? That isn't even near to the best word to describe them. When you are woken up at four in the morning because of their skittering around in your walls and ceilings (I do so hope they're only skittering around) the thing you want most is a shotgun. Which is probably why it is good that I don't have one, or I would be repairing dozens of holes in my inside walls too.

They make my wonderful daughter say bad things: things that wonderful daughters definitely should never say except, one day, to husbands who deserve it. But as she has a loft type bed which puts her very close to the ceiling, I will cut her slack. The dancing of the rabid giant rats is closer to her than me in my more traditional bed, so I assume more startling and maddening. Still, I am mad enough all of five feet farther below them.

Some folks go on and on about animal rights. Animal rights? There is no animal with the right to wake my family in the wee hours of the morning. Well, maybe the dog, if she has to go out. But she's trained to do that and saves me a worse issue later, so she's being considerate. She has a reason.

I am told squirrel tastes like bacon. I like bacon. The little fuzzballs might be in worse trouble now.

The quiet voice may speak the loudest

Lately I have been fighting doubts about various things in my life. Nothing too terribly serious, really, but still, I have found myself worrying more than I should. This is natural enough I suppose as we get older and the monsters in the closet begin appearing again. Whatever the case may be, at times it has been difficult not to fret over the future.

Then I had something of an epiphany last Saturday in Church. I was informed, very calmly and certainly, that the worry was not necessary. Everything will be all right in its time.

It was little more than a quiet voice in my head. Yet I was immediately calmed, and I have found that facing this week has been much more relaxing than I had anticipated.

I do not know what triggered it. The priest, with all due respect, didn't seem to be saying anything particularly noteworthy. But I was sitting there in the pew and I was spoken to and I felt better, just that quickly.

I have always been fond of the verses in, I believe, Exodus (I apologize for not looking them up) where Moses finds God in the quiet whisper rather than the strong wind or powerful storm. I wonder if that's where God really is, talking to us so quietly that we can't always hear Him.

Or perhaps we are too loud to hear Him. Either way, I felt better. Things will be okay, that I know. Whenever worry becomes too close and threatens to smother us, it may just be the best thing to draw a breath, take a step back, and simply listen for that voice. I'm sure it speaks to us all.

My Earth Day Birthday

Today is Earth Day, and perhaps not coincidentally my birthday. I point this out not in search of salutations, or condolences as the case may be, but as an example of the irony found everywhere in our wild little universe. I appreciate the humor of it; being not merely a conservative but the worst kind of conservative, a social conservative, I can still get the joke. Many people will delight in the opportunity to point this out to me nonetheless as they wish me Happy Earth, I mean Birthday, Marty. But the fact is that, though funny, the joke really has no basis in reality.

I don't understand why so many folks out there believe that conservatives have no respect for the planet or her environment. The very fact that we refer to Mother Earth in the feminine demonstrates the great respect we have for her.

We readily acknowledge that good stewardship is right and proper, not only as God has given us this gift of a place to live (and we should honor it on that point alone), but because our own interests command it. We cannot continue as a race without maintaining our world properly.

So plant a tree today if you so desire. Cultivate a field, or begin using cleaner burning fuels if that is your mission in life. I certainly won't stop you. So long as you don't make it into a cause which puts Earth ahead of people, those living, breathing people with eternal souls that matter much more than dirt and leaves, we can coexist happily.

In the meantime, I'll burn charcoal as I roast bratwurst and Italian sausage and hoist a brew or two in the back yard. Yessiree, I'll pollute the atmosphere with charcoal fumes as I prepare a birthday feast. Hey, I'm still a conservative. I have to do something that fits the stereotype. That's my part of the joke.

The new used car

Well, Pops, I did it. I bought the car which is going to replace that last car of yours. I should have replaced it six months, maybe a year ago, but I didn't, because it was the last car you bought. But I did run into the ground, as we Cosgriffs do. It will only get me scrap value. Hell, maybe not that much.

The new one is a 2000 Chevy Venture. By new, I mean two years younger than your Plymouth Voyager. And it also has 17,000 more miles than the vehicle it's replacing. So I'm replacing an old car with a vaguely newer one with significantly more miles. A newer car with more miles; I have to believe that you and Grandpa Joe are getting a kick out of that.

The Venture has heavy duty springs, what you used to call overloaders, if I remember rightly. That's part of what attracted me. With some of the loads we've had to carry I feel that's a real plus. It's a shorter van than your Voyager, but I figure I can pile more in it with those tougher springs. In fact, I think I could deliver some of those old Hobart welders we used to rent using this van. You guys like that, eh?

Her inaugural run will be Thursday, when I take a machine to Bad Axe up in the thumb. You remember Boom's Rental up there, right? We've dealt with them since the Seventies, as you know, and I'm sure you made that trip a few times dad. If that works well, and I believe it will, then next Tuesday I'll take it on about a 700 mile loop, from Detroit to the Electric Eel plant in Springfield, Ohio, to Indianapolis, then back to Eel for a load to bring back here to the D. In short, she's getting a baptism of fire.

You and Joe like that too I bet.

A most memorable day

On this day in 1775 the American Revolution began. The people of Lexington and Concord turned back the British, and harassed them all the way back to Charlestown. The Shot Heard Round the World had been fired. April 19, 1775 had secured its place in American and World history.

The significance of this cannot be underscored enough. To date, it is almost surely the only large scale revolution which has had any modicum of positive success. Most new nations sink into anarchy or more terrible tyranny when a known form of government falls. We need only look to the recent Arab Spring uprisings to see this is true.

To be sure, even our Revolution was subject to severe trials early on. It was no certainty that a civil government based on popular will would result from that war. Yet somehow it did; I believe that it was through Providence and American exceptionalism that our nation rose from the battle field as it did.

I do not mean this as an insult towards other people and nations who are now seeking similar freedom and respect. Perhaps over time Libya will stabilize, Isis fail in Iraq and Syria, and the Muslim Brotherhood moderate. But I cannot help feeling that their story will be many more years playing out than the American tale. The fact is that popular uprisings need more than simple change. They need enlightened leadership; they need more than mob or knee jerk mentality.

The colonists had that leadership. They overcame the occasional rabble to form a stable, reasonably free nation. And that's exactly what makes April 19, 1775 so memorable. Our revolution is truly unique in history. It began 241 years ago today.