Rejoice
Sometime recently I ran across an old notebook in the garage. In it was the poem that follows, one I had totally forgotten. It was probably written about ten years ago as I recognized the same cross hatch paper that I had written another one on in the summer of 1997.
RejoiceTo the
Philippi church
Wrote Paul admonishing,
"Finally, brethren, rejoice
In the Lord."
And a little further down,
"Rejoice in the Lord always,
And again I say rejoice."
Important? Real, so it seems.
Well. I can do that!
Rejoice, I mean.
I know I can.
I know how--
If I only knew how,
To rejoice, that is.
Really, it's not hard
At all, I don't think.
Okay, I don't know how!
I piss and moan
and scrap at home.
Worry-- worry and fret,
So goes each day,
Mountains from molehills.
But I'm commanded, "Rejoice,"
And not all this other.
So, can I rejoice in the Lord always? I'm trying to. A
rejoiceful mind set
doesn't come naturally for me, but I.m trying to.
Bombs Away!
On the editorial page of yesterday's
Houston Chronicle was was a reprint from the editorial page of the
Raleigh News and Observer. It began:
"The Bush administration recently approved what is called a 'significant reduction' in the size of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. The White House didn't disclose specific numbers, but it said U.S. weaponry would drop to less than a quarter of its size at the end of the Cold War."
Sadly, my first thought was, "Who's he gonna drop 'em on?"
Who's Roy Hobbs? Besides "The Natural."
The Natural was on last night and, as usual, I watched some of it. It's a favorite of mine, one I've watched through several times. The movie is based upon a novel of the same title by Bernard Malamud. The book, though, I've never read.
Roy Hobbs, the main character, was a ball player with considerable talent. Played by Robert Redford, Hobbs tells the Glenn Close character that he had always wanted to be known as "the greatest who ever played the game."
Was the Roy Hobbs character based on a real baseball player? Of course he was. Three or four, at least.
First he was a farm boy with an overpowering fast ball. Like Bob Feller, a natural himself, who was pitching in the majors at seventeen. A
left handed Bob Feller who struck out "The
Whammer" on three pitches. Who was the
Whammer you ask. According to Joe
Posnanski of the Kansas City Star the
Whammer was the best portrayal of Babe Ruth in a movie ever. (Just like, he wrote, Apollo Creed was the best portrayal of Ali.)
But Babe Ruth has to be the person Hobbs is most based upon. A great pitcher who can hit. Can hit? What an understatement. After winning over ninety games, Ruth became a slugging outfielder who held the major league record for home runs in a season from 1919 to 1961, 42 consecutive years, longer than Maris, longer than anabolic steroids. He won a batting championship when Ty Cobb and George
Sisler were in the league. Ruth is still considered by many. maybe most, to be the greatest who ever played the game. What a natural Ruth was. Like Roy Hobbs.
So in the big showdown in the movie, Babe Ruth struck out Babe Ruth.
Roy Hobbs is also based on Eddie
Waitkus. Huh? Yeah, who's he? Eddie
Waitkus was no natural, but he was a good ball player. I saw him play in the spring of 1947 when the Cubs came to Dallas to play our Dallas Rebels an exhibition game.
Waitkus played first base; he hit left, threw left. Although he didn't have a lot of power , he usually hit for a good average. Eddie
Waitkus was a
bachelor. He was known as one of sport's most eligible. After being voted starting National League first baseman on the 1949 All Star team (he was with the
Phillies by then), on a road trip he was shot by a
mysterious woman in a hotel room. Just like Roy Hobbs.
One reason I never read the book was because a friend of mine told me that in the book Hobbs took the money and did his bit to throw the climactic game. Like another natural, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson? "Say it ain't so, Joe." Say it ain't so, Roy. Me, I'll always go for the happy ending.
