This Just In – It’s still a free country.
Last week my family took what’s turning out to be an annual pilgrimage to Baltimore. We started this four years ago and I hope we’ll continue for a long time. This is a way for my husband and me to see our beloved Red Sox in person.
Four years ago, we were eager to see the Sox because we knew that they were a baseball freight train heading for the World Series and a commanding win. This year was the opposite in terms of their win-loss record, but all respect due to the Orioles, a team and an organization that is happily rejuvenated.
My younger brother Chris and his family meet us at Camden Yards for this event, driving down from Connecticut. Chris’s birthday present this year was a game at Fenway, where he watched the Toronto Blue Jays pound the Sox 28-5. At least it was historic.
There we were, at a well-attended game, with plenty of Boston fans who had come from all over the region just as we did to support their team. The rows around us were filled with fire-breathing fans for the home team. We all screamed our heads off when our side hit a home run or got a hit. That’s what you do.
There are many fun things that the Orioles do during the breaks with their “fan cam” to keep the crowd entertained, showing the fans on the jumbotron. My favorite was the Lion King music running as people all over the stadium hold their babies up in the air (Simba style).
Then, at the seventh inning stretch, came a surprise. Not “Take me Out To The Ball Game” or “God Bless America” as I expected. That night, the sing-a-long was “This Land Is Your Land.” All these emphatic fans for both sides took off their hats, calmed themselves and sang together about the unity that is what being an American is all about. The song ended. We applauded. Then the Orioles resumed their clinic on beating the Red Sox. They played the next night and the Red Sox won, by the way. That’s baseball!
On the way home, we stopped in Washington, DC to take a quick tour of the District. We had our first visit to the World War II memorial which is quite beautiful. Rick’s father landed at Normandy one day after D-Day and rolled into Paris with Patton. The memorial is lovely and worth all the traffic in every direction.
We went to the Capitol, which was closed and surrounded by the obvious added security made necessary by the January 6th attack … an attack that last week was called “fake” by the guy who lit the match and launched it.
What I took away from all this was simple. Americans want to go to the ball game, holler loud for their team and go home in peace. Many thousands of people, coming together by appointment (game time), abiding by rules of who sits where and watching a game. Americans do this every day.
As we visited the mall and the Capitol, another striking theme. Thousands of people were out there on a typical summery Saturday. They were walking babies in strollers, riding bikes and enjoying a picnic among the giant symbols of American institutions and our great republic. There were people of every race and ethnicity. We the people are the greatest tribute to this republic and its continuation is in our hands.
We walked around the circle of the WWII memorial and paused as needed to allow for families to take their photos without our being in the way… Japanese-American families. How humans find their way to forgive each other after the breathtaking damage of a world war is an amazing thing. If war is a human struggle, so, too, is keeping the peace and finding forgiveness in its wake.
These two examples reinforced my theory of the case against the extremism and fear-mongering in our body politic. Our immune system is fighting hard and winning. Accountability via the justice system is plodding, but the record is now building to display the facts. The courts (at least in this area) have done their job. An NBC news poll this past week said that Americans’ top concern is not economics or fear of international terrorism… no, it was threats to democracy.
We’re watching closely now. From California to the New York island, this land was made for you and me.
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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