Baseball, Wednesdays that should be Fridays, and Media Literacy

Yes, there is some connection there, I promise.

So I have one more blog post to write, and of course I have waited until the very last second (which is a constant theme in my life, but I digress). I have been at work most of the afternoon, which means I cannot go out and celebrate my last class ever and the beautiful day outside. By celebrate, I mean sit outside and drink beer. It is a perfect example of when a Wednesday turns into a Friday, which should allow the weekend to be several days long. However, I am currently stuck inside and feel rather depressed about it. So to make myself feel better, I am watching baseball on mlb.tv, which for those of you not obsessed with sports like myself, allows me to watch any out of market game for an annual fee. Oh, and let us not mention this to my boss as I probably should be working.

Anyways, I was thinking about the opportunities afforded to me that even though I am working inside, I can still watch pretty much whatever baseball I want, as long as I have the means and the ability to set up the computer. In reality, what percentage of people in our nation do not have this chance? I wrote earlier about allowing teens to take what we teach them and put it to their own unique use. What about the teens that we teach that do not have the opportunity to take advantage of these skills because they simply do not have the resources many of us have. I can sit here and watch baseball on a 22-inch flat panel monitor on a very high-speed connection (and get paid for it, but let’s ignore that). Yet I still have the gall to complain and wish I could be doing something else. What is wrong with me, and perhaps with those similar to me, that we cannot be content with what we have? Is this an American issue? Are we simply not content with our lot, no matter the perks? Perhaps it is even wrong of me to say American. How about wealthy, middle-class, mostly white Americans? It really bothers me sometimes that I can allow myself to complain about these things, when a significant portion of our country does not have health care, adequate housing, or good food, much less access to any insignificant ball game they want (and yes I called baseball insignificant, it is only April, they get more important in August, now that I say that, though, the Braves are about to lose and I am fighting the urge to swear in a library). While I know that the discrepancies between rich and poor are part of human history, never before have the rich had the means and supposedly the will to do something about it. The hypocrisy of this country sometime makes me sick even though I am probably part of it. There are great organizations that are making a real difference but our overall priorities need to change. For me, this is not about politics (double play YES), it is about changing the entire attitude of a country. If I knew how to do this, I would be on the campaign trail. Being at GSLIS for a few semesters has proven to me that there are plenty of people, better and harder working than me, who are dedicated to youth services and to providing a better tomorrow four our children (yuck, cliché). However, I have seen many times the idealism of college brutally squashed like a bug out in the real world. So perhaps my final blog post really is saying this: do not let the rat race of the real world kill the idealism present in GSLIS. It is important to understand we can have a place where I can watch baseball at work and still work at solving our many issues.

OK, so I am done. Sorry about the almost sickening life philosophy.