Sunday, September 23, 2007

It ain't easy being green...or purple!




Having been born in Minnesota, being a vikings fan is somewhat compulsory. Worse yet, feeling the pain year in and year out of of never a superbowl win, and nary a chance in hell of getting there again in my lifetime, I find myself questioning why, oh why, do I return for more of this punishment. Each year starts with the excitement of new hope - that this year will be different. But, here we are barely a few weeks into the season and I already know those hopes will be dashed as they are every year.




So I turn my thoughts to other events of the week - and reflect on Yom Kippur - a most sacred holiday for our Jewish friends. At church today our minister spoke of Yom Kippur and the practice of atonement and forgiveness that represents Yom Kippur. We have several Jewish friends in our church, so this is a fitting day to recognize this holiday with them. We had a lovely reading that started out saying: Forgiveness is the by-product of the healing process.

The pain that the Vikings will inevitably inflict upon me this season is most definitely fodder for healing and forgiveness...I only hope that come January I still remember the lessons of Yom Kippur!



Thank you to my loving, welcoming, and supportive friends at my beloved Unitarian Universalist church for helping me deal with the trauma of NFL football!

2 comments:

Iguana Banana said...

Yom Kipper and The Vikings. I've never really thought of the two of them in the same context. Vedy interesting.
I, sadly, feel nothing for the Vikings. I choose the truly Minnesotan version - I ignore them. Again and again I have cheered them on, and what have they done for me in return? I will tell you. They have done nothing for me. Why should I give them my support and attention?
Now, I am waiting for them to realize that I am ignoring them. Then, when they come to find me and ask me if everything is OK, we will sit down, those boys in purple and I, and have a long, honest talk about responsibility. Namely, theirs. They are blowing it.
I do not know that I have it in me to forgive them. Frankly, I am not the kind of person. I am the kind of person that can hold a grudge for a really long time.
Oh, I smile at them when we pass each other on the street, but still... I feel nothing for them.
C'est la vie. I guess that the ball is in their... court(?) ... so to speak.

Jon said...

When I was a kid we belonged to a very fundamentalist Christian church, which followed the Old Testament to the tee. We "celebrated" the Day of Atonement, which basically required us to fast from sundown the day before until sundown that day. I always hated that day, but it was also the one day that we got to eat dinner at a fancy restaurant. I guess my parents thought we deserved it after fasting. Wow...memories I had forgotten about.