There was a baseball game the other day in Iowa. This in and of itself was not news; there are baseball games played in Iowa most every day during the spring and summer and into fall. Some are at the local sandlot, while others are at Principal Park in Des Moines where the Cubs’ AAA team plays, although an argument could be made the AAA team is as of late actually playing at Wrigley Field. But I digress.

No, what made this particular game noteworthy was that it was played at a baseball field carved out of a cornfield, the teams involved being the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox. It was rooted in an unashamedly sentimental movie made over three decades ago, a movie about ghosts and redemption and the healing of a fractured family relationship. And, as one might expect, baseball.

For those willing to embrace the moment, baseball was once more a game. The politics and wokeness stepped aside where they belong. (Actually, they belong in the trash. But one thing at a time.) Instead, there were tradition and tales; the pastoral beauty of the game itself taking precedence. There were the memories rekindled: playing catch, the first game you went to with your mom or dad. For some of us, remembering the last game we went to together.

One may wonder in days such as these what place baseball, or any sport, plays in our lives. We live in a world gone mad, populated with “leaders” hellbent on destroying all that is good about our country. The lust for power and wealth utterly possesses many who care not a whit about whomsoever they will hurt along the way. The lust, the flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life do not drain the life out of only those so consumed. These sins also scorch others. The flashpoint used to be manufacturing and related jobs going away as corporations shipped their production overseas. Now, we see business after business desperately struggling to maintain a satisfactory operational level or stay open period, chronically short-staffed due to it being more lucrative to remain on the public dole than draw an actual paycheck.

The natural reaction is anger at the malicious and facetious, be they in government or the media (pardon the redundancy). Anger has its place. But when anger is the sole reaction, without action taken to do what one can about its root cause, anger becomes a self-indulgent, self-destructive frivolity; a meaningless show playing to the crowd. 

Living in perpetuity as a charter member of the Society for the Outrageous Outrageously Outraged has the exact same effectiveness level as apologizing to a china plate after throwing it on the floor. It might make you feel better for a time, but it changes nothing. The plate is still broken. One can similarly rage, rage against the dying of the light until he or she has screamed himself or herself bloody, but it will not add one nanosecond to his or her allotted time visiting this planet before he or she must give an account of how said time was spent to the Giver of life. In the same manner, one can rant about politics until he or she grows dangerously close to self-asphyxiation. But the aforementioned “leaders” do not care so long as they, by whichever means are necessary, retain control of the public purse.

So what can one do?

To start, one can speak from the mind and heart, not the jerking knee. Knowledge is power. Read Adam Smith. Read Henry Hazlitt. Read Friedrich Hayek. Above all else, read the Book penned by multiple writers yet written by only one Author. From such references we can learn how to differentiate between silly stupidity and genuine evil. We can also learn how to educate others, not with the wild-eyed rants so beloved by the Left but from discourse that is rational and cordial, yet unyielding on matters of truth.

We can also do the basic things. “Teach your children well” is not the sole property of Crosby Stills & Nash. Create moments. Play catch. Go to a ballgame. Read a book together. Connect. Counteract the world’s lies with love in action.

Whatever your field of dreams may be, don’t let anyone take it from you by your abandoning it. For example, do not cede control of baseball itself. Refuse to give in to the hyperwoke. They will fade. But the game will endure and triumph as long as it lives in the hearts and minds of those who cherish the joy it brings.