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Good Luck, Albert Pujols By Rabbi Yonason Goldson
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Nothing is more fascinating than what we don't understand.
Maybe that's why I was mesmerized one day last July by the flat screen TV at the gym. I watched in bewilderment as Cleveland Cavalier fans alternately wept and ranted over LeBron James leaving town to play for the Miami Heat. I waited for the lone voice of reason that never came, the echo of the archetypical mother chiding her child not to cry over a broken toy because there is a famine in Somalia.
With daily headlines tolling the catastrophes of our times, from tsunamis to earthquakes, from Iran to Athens, from global warming to Obamacare, how was it possible for so many to rage so much over so little? In the grand scheme of things, does it make sense for any person's happiness to hinge on the color jersey worn by a millionaire throwing a ball through a hoop?
I know this will be sacrilege to many. I also know that I may be taking my life in my hands by going even further, with tragedy having struck so recently in my own backyard.
Certainly everyone has by now heard the news: Albert Pujols is leaving the St. Louis Cardinals.
(If you don't know what I'm talking about, good for you! Please click on another article and read about something important.)
Here in St. Louis it's been hard to find any other topic of conversation. If I casually mention the word baseball in front of my students it can take me five minutes to regain control of the class. If only the subject of Moses generated this kind of passion, the Messiah would have arrived a long time ago.
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I suppose I'm old fashioned and possibly naïve; but I would like to think that if I were in the same situation team loyalty and community spirit would count for something. And yes, I know it would mean giving up an extra $60 million dollars; but we're talking about numbers so huge that it all sounds like Monopoly money anyway.
To his credit, Albert Pujols does a tremendous amount of charity work. He seems gracious toward his teammates and points heavenward to credit the Almighty with his accomplishments after every successful play. He is certainly entitled to take whatever the market is willing to offer.
But it is the market itself that should be the subject of discussion. And indeed, more than a few people, even some of Mr. Pujols's greatest admirers, are muttering that there is something obscene about one man signing a contract roughly equal to the gross domestic product of Micronesia for hitting a ball with a stick. If aliens came down to earth and read the headlines, they would surely conclude that there is no intelligent life on this planet.
IT'S NOT ALL BAD
As for inspiration, the Cardinals' World Series victory was truly the stuff of which Disney movies are made: ten and a half games out from even a wild card slot with barely a month to go, Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa injected his players with an attitude of "play every game like it's for the pennant." And it worked, as the Cardinals clawed their way back into the playoffs.
Dismissed as hopeless underdogs, the Redbirds found themselves in the World Series. Down to their last strike twice in game six, "the team that wouldn't go away" stunned spectators and the opposing Texas Rangers by coming back again and again. Even those of us utterly disinterested in sports couldn't help but be impressed.
BUT ON THE OTHER HAND…
Once upon a time, society taught respect for honest labor and disdain for undeserved adulation. Once upon a time, humble men considered themselves rich if they enjoyed the enduring pleasures of family and community. Now we look to validate our own worth through the ephemeral athletic prowess of others.
And so King Solomon foresaw the confusion of our times when he said: Folly is placed on lofty heights, while wealthy men sit in low places. I have seen slaves on horses and nobles walking on foot like slaves.
A decade ago, when I coached fourth-grade little league, I watched my son field a ball in shallow left and make a play at the plate as the runner tried to score from third. No walk-off grand slam in the majors will ever be as exciting. And at least once a week I get to see a student's face light up with excitement when I reveal the eternal wisdom of his or her ancestors. No one could pay me enough to walk away from that.
So good luck, Mr. Pujols. Use your money wisely, for each and every one of us will have to give an accounting in the end.
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Comment by clicking here. JWR contributor Rabbi Yonason Goldson teaches at Block Yeshiva High School in St. Louis, MO, where he also writes and lectures. He is author of Dawn to Destiny: Exploring Jewish History and its Hidden Wisdom, an overview of Jewish philosophy and history from Creation through the compilation of the Talmud, now available from Judaica Press. Visit him at http://torahideals.com .
© 2011, Rabbi Yonason Goldson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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