Pet Peeves #2010 / Simple Pleasures #3
Oh goodness, how I hate bandwagoners… people who’ve never cared a lick for something until the moment it becomes relevant. And then suddenly we’re all experts. We’re all enthusiasts! We’re all TEAM U.S.A.! And I’m one of the worst offenders of all…
But it’s not as if we didn’t all grow up playing soccer in Little League. It’s not as if we didn’t all get excited when Beckham came across the pond (I even thought about buying tickets… once). It’s not as if this momentum hasn’t been building for years. And it is building. Building to the point of explosion. The good kind of explosion. Like an explosion of chocolate or ice cream or joy.
How much we all need a bandwagon to be on these days… the oil spill rages on- barreling toward its third month; our generals are disparaging their boss in print- making the end of this endless war seem ever more far away; our economy is still receding; our obesity still exceeding… and people continue to talk about the Kardashians as if they matter! Being an American ain’t all it’s cracked up to be these days.
And while it might be trite and predictable- and maybe a little hypocritical- to get behind a sport and a team only when they’re winning, I do believe we need this. We need a reason to believe in our nation again: the way we believed in it when our President was elected, when Michael Phelps swam for a record gold, when Ross and Rachel finally got together!
We need something to rally behind. Something to believe in again.
As I stood up screaming, jumping up and down alone in my living room this morning, tears streaming down my face, I didn’t feel like I was on a bandwagon. I felt like I was, again, part of something real.
Something good. Something American.
Yes we can.
