Necessary leisure

I have a bookmark somewhere in my stacks of books that says something like ‘One cannot appreciate leisure fully unless one has plenty of work to do”…or something close. That fits, so I particularly appreciate the time-off I took today to enjoy the U.S. Open tennis tournament.

I didn’t plan to watch TV, or this Open, and this is totally a catharthic blog post, so I’ll continue to unload….

I was at an imposing abortion clinic this morning for a first look at the largest Planned Parenthood mill in the country, as it’s known to be, learning more about it and attending a prayer service my pastor and associate priest committed to, in full black clericals in the hot sun. One can get saturated with news coverage of politics, war and the culture….and I did, and it’s a holiday weekend. So I had the Open on in the background while working on some writing, which doesn’t actually work, even when the tennis is dull and the action predictable.

But the action turned unpredictable today, when last year’s women’s champion was defeated by a virtually unknown 18 year old Polish ‘girl’, and the evening women’s match between a young Israeli woman and a young Czech Republic woman turned into an awesome challenge featuring the human drive to excellence and to defeat one’s own weaknesses. I finally stopped what I was doing to watch the whole second half of a long and enjoyable match.

It was easily the best match of the tournament so far at the end of the first week. But enjoyable for anyone outside the tennis world? Yes, because it was pure drive and pure skill, perfectly matched in sheer excellent sport, and we have missed that for a long time now. We’re so used to scandals in sports these days, I wonder how much it pierces our intellect anymore when we hear about the latest steroid or drug abuse, arrest or citation, cheating or misbehaving.

Anyway, look at the bracket rundowns and you’ll see a lot of Eastern European names that – as the announcers in the booth commented – a lot of Americans won’t be able to pronounce. Add to that the Americans still in it, and the longtime champions we know (of course, Roger Federer), and you’ll see an inspiring display of heart and soul.

We love our sports, but we have become inured to these scandals and wonder if there’s any purity left in human performance of what should be our leisure time break from the scandals of politics and business and celebrity culture. I’m a lifelong sports fan, and I found a breakthrough day of performance excellence in this day’s matches at the U.S. Open because it’s rare these days to find this pure drive to excellence.

Talk about personal excellence, Fr. Burke Masters is a former professional (‘semi-professional’?) baseball player and now the Vocations Director for the Joliet Diocese. He knows I love sports, and just yesterday sent along this site he discovered, knowing the people he sent it to would enjoy it and appreciate what it represents. I do, and I think you will, too.

Enjoy your leisure time this holiday weekend. All the more so, if you have much to do.