Baseball legend Yogi Berra died last week at the ripe old age of 90, and of course that prompted
every news source in North America to resurrect some of those wonderful
Yogi-isms … “It’s not over til the fat lady sings,” “ It ain’t over til it’s
over”, and my favorite: “When you come to a fork in the road take it.”
Apparently, and this according to a family member, he also said, and I
paraphrase: “I have to go to all my friend’s funerals, otherwise they won’t
come to mine.” While on the subject of baseball, and although not a baseball fan myself, I would be remiss if I did
not at least mention that the Toronto Blue Jays are hot this year and have
just secured a playoff spot for this year's World Series. I was courting my wife Shauna when the Jays won
their second World Series back in the early 90s, and I cannot imagine what the amazing (and playoff-starved)
fans of Toronto would do if the Jays were to perform a three-peat.
At around 9PM last night the super moon lunar eclipse occurred. The last
time this happened was in 1982, and it won’t happen again until 2033. While
lunar eclipses are not uncommon, it is uncommon to have a lunar eclipse when
the moon is at or near its closest proximity to Earth. Eclipsed by the earth’s
shadow the moon sometimes appears to be blood red, and some superstitious
people believe that the red moon is a bad omen. Learning machine that I am, I
discovered that this lunar eclipse is the final in a series of four lunar
eclipses, separated by six month increments, and known as a tetrad. Another fun fact: one of the previous
three lunar eclipses in this tetrad occurred on my birthday, October 8th,
2014. Although it was cloudy last night when I took Jasper out for her final
walk of the day, I did catch the end of the eclipse through a short break in
the clouds.
Last night, I watched a news story about a left-handed 4 year-old in
Oklahoma who was forced to use his right hand because his pre-school teacher
told him left-handed people were evil and inferior. I wonder if that teacher also believes in bloodletting and witch-burning. When the child’s mother complained,
as a response, the school sent her an article outlining antiquated and
unfounded theories on the inferiorities of left-handed people. Really? This reminds me
of the Scopes Monkey Trial, and I worry that the religious right has once again
sabotaged education. When I was in kindergarten, I was forced to use right
handed scissors, and was also encouraged to write with my right hand. I think
they just didn’t want to buy left handed scissors for the two left-handed kids in the
class, but still, this is not a good thing to do to a developing child. Perhaps this
explains why I now worship the devil and make animal sacrifices. For all of you
who teach pre-school in Oklahoma, I’m kidding. I think Pope Francis has his
work cut out for him, because ignorance is catching like wildfire these days.
Final note, and speaking of Pope Francis, last week he completed a three
city tour in the United States, and the man might singlehandedly heal the gaping
wounds that have so plagued The Catholic Church for so many decades. I thought
Pope Paul was a decent pope, but this guy might have him beat. Certainly, he is sensitive
to the glaring hypocrisy of excess and sexual deviance that has dogged the Catholic
Church for so long, and he might be the best spokesman for positive change in
religion I have yet to see. Of particular interest to me was his apology to the
families who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of priests. Merely by acknowledging
this profound wrong, he has done a remarkable thing. No great fan of religion,
I am encouraged by any religious leader who promotes a message of love and
acceptance, and there is no question that our troubled world needs a lot more
of that.
As Yogi said: “The future ain’t what it used to be”
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2015 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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