Big Question

With their win today, our Buccos took one out of three. All is well, dear Pirates fan, a good win today and still a lot of baseball to be played.

Yesterday, I was having conversation with a friend and, of course, talk turned to the Pirates. She wanted to know what all the talk was about the Pirates pitchers retaliating on the Reds in response to star, Andrew McCutchen being hit by a 101 mph pitch.

"That doesn't really happen?" my friend asked in regard to pitchers throwing at opposing batters to send a message that the hitting of one of their team was bush league at best. Yes, it does, I explained. It's part of the unwritten code of major league baseball. If they hit one of yours, you hit one of theirs....definitely so if it's your star player that gets hit by the pitch.

My friend was incredulous. "But it's baseball! It's such a calm, non-violent game. Why?"

Good question. Largely because the umpire sent a warning last night when another Pirate got plunked, no Buc hurler hit a Red. And, I'll admit, my rabid-fan response was "Just wait until the next time we play......"

What if we never did retaliate? What if we let it go and chose the higher path, displayed a deeper character? As I write this, I'm thinking, if we did that we would be the biggest team of wusses and pansies in the league.

Yet, it does make me think. When called a name, what if you just ignored it? When cut off in traffic, what if you just smiled? When wronged, what if you didn't retaliate and instead went about your business to the best of your ability? When I really think about it, that behavior is not weak, it's strong and is from a deeper sense of self. With further reflection, peaceful behavior comes from doing the necessary interior work that makes for peace.

Kudos to my friend for getting me to think about the bigger picture. Of course, she does know that football season is about to start and if anyone takes a cheap shot on Ben..........

sj;