October 17th: Fly The W

My alarm goes off at 7:30 AM, signaling the end of my second night in a row with fewer than four hours of sleep. The night before, the Cubs and Cardinals clashed in a first-round playoff game. I wasn’t going to miss a single pitch, even from the other side of the globe.

It has been seven seasons since the Cubs last made the playoffs, and that one didn’t have nearly the energy and engagement that this one has. For the first time in recent memory, the Cubs are exciting and actually good. All summer long, fans and sportswriters have been buzzing with the idea that, after years of suffering, Chicago fans are finally going to have something to cheer about during the month of October.

Of course, this comes when I am out of the country for a year. My city is bonding together in support of the team I love, and I am missing it.

I am an incredibly proud Chicagoan. Chicago is my home, the source of my sports fandom, my cultural identity, and so much more. Yet, over the last five years, I’ve spent almost 75% of my time away from my hometown, from sumers at camp to years at school. That is what makes my relationship with the Cubs so much more than just a baseball fan watching some games. I am a resident in exile, longing for home in any way that I can.

So I stay up to watch. At three in the morning, my room feels like the only light in Jerusalem, my silent cheers sprinting their way across the globe to spur on my boys in blue. I live-tweet my way through the games, joining the fan bases as they attempt to get in on the action in any way possible. I haven’t left the house without my Cubs hat on since the playoffs began, and my sports superstitions are reaching a point of borderline lunacy. Thanks to technology, I’ve been able to stay tuned in much better than I could have years ago. I watch the games on my computer live, with only a moment or two of delay. I’m right there for every pitch, watching with all of those fans in America and abroad.

Better yet, I know I’m not the only believer living in the Cubs-Diaspora. Walking down the streets in Jerusalem, I have been high-fived and cheered on several occasions, fans far away from home sharing in the glory of a late autumn “Go Cubs Go!”

I know that, as my life goes on in the direction it’s going, I will spend much of my time away from the city I call home. No matter where I live, though, I’ll alway have my Cubs to celebrate, to struggle with, and to give me that little piece of where I belong. This season, the Cubs have been my tether, and I am going to be glued to the screen for every pitch. Let’s fly the W.

If you enjoy the work of the Zoot Perspective, please visit my GoFundMe page, to help support me on my journey. Thank you very much.

For more content from ZPMedia, visit www.zootperspective.com.

The power of mass

Today marks the Walk with Israel, coinciding with Lag B'omer, a time to join together and celebrate Israel's independence, as well as the excitement of a free Jewish state. With locations all over, it was easy to find a place to gather with other Jews and celebrate our homeland.

One of the things that I noticed as I walked was the visual effect that we were demonstrating. This was a group of Jews taking up entire blocks of suburban neighborhoods, filling the streets with people walking together. If any one member of the group had walked alone, the mental effect would have been positive, but it would not have held the same outwardly visible effect as it did when hundreds of people took to the streets to make this bold statement.

As we walked, we also saw motorcyclists driving by with Israeli flags attached to the back of their bikes. This too was valuable because it was a display of solidarity, a proclamation of emotion.

This got me thinking though: What would happen if we all joined together for things more often? It is often almost a cliche to make a facebook group "lets see if we can get X amount of people to join this group," but what if we were joining together for something in particular?

My first thought is peace. It seems to me as though the reason we don't have peace on Earth is because of blame. Everyone blames someone else. He did this, so I'm going to hate him. She did that, so I'm not going to agree with her. One person needs to be able to put aside their feelings of pain and their grudges and move on. If one person finds personal peace, as well as the power to forgive, it can spread. Just as our bad actions can often be contagious, so too can our good actions. Allow this acceptance to grow. Soon, if we all are able to accept each other, and not hold grudges, we can move forward without hurting each other. The only thing standing between us and peace is, well, us.

This may seem like a random idea in connection with the Walk with Israel, but they are very much the same. Just as I saw a march of hundreds of people in just my town parading through the streets, it is the same with the opportunity for peace. If we create peace, and foster it, we can walk around with it, demonstrating the excellence of peaceful interaction. Soon, it will spread as quickly as a wildfire. "Seek peace and pursue it" goes hand in hand with the idea of "once you've found it, shout it from the rooftops and spread it" (nothing quite like making up your own quotes)

So go out, and pursue your own peace. When you find it, encourage it in others. This isn't something that will happen quickly, or all at once. But hey, that's why God put us here. We might as well dedicate our lives to it.