I’m a lifelong Houston Astros fan. Every year for Father’s Day, my kids get me and my wife tickets to a game and we all go together. My wife, my kids, their spouses, and my grandkids.
We were at the game in Houston last night and two things happened that made my night almost as much as being at the game with my family.
The first happened when I paid a vendor with my USAA credit card. She saw the card and said, “just want to thank you for your service.” I thanked her and the two young men (early 20’s or so) in the row in front of me turned around, each shook my hand, and one of them said, “We couldn’t help but overhear. We also want to thank you for your service, sir.” It wasn’t about their recognizing me, per se. It was just very refreshing to see two young guys thankful for another person’s sacrifice. Too often, all we hear about are the entitled, arrogant young generation. Last night just reminded me they aren’t all in that group.
The second thing was at the piano bar in downtown Houston after the game. There were 12 Dutch guys at the table next to us. They’ve been in the US for the past nine days to follow the World Cup. I ended up talking to them for quite a while. This was the first trip to the States for them. They said they had always been told how arrogant and condescending Americans are. They said since they’ve been here, everyone they’ve come in contact with has been overwhelmingly friendly and welcoming. One of them even commented, “Everything we’ve ever heard about Americans is a lie.” I bought a round of drinks for them and told them I was glad they had a good experience in this country and hoped they would return sometime.
Every now and then, I get too sucked into all the negativity that permeates social media and forget that it actually represents an extremely small fraction of the population. Good people still outnumber bad by a huge margin. Last night was my latest reminder not to forget that.
Staring down the actual Declaration of Independence before stepping into the octagon as an underdog to beat the piss out of an undefeated fighter in front of the world is an extraordinary level of legendary
It’s funny, I voiced how I felt and it was ignored, and stayed. But when you say it’s over I’m supposed to fight back? Lmfaooo pick up another fantasy novel