Red Card

I loathe the expression "What makes him tick." It is the American mind, looking for simple and singular solution, that uses the foolish expression. A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm.
James Thurber (1894 - 1961)

Falling is a theme that continued to surface for me today. First, the easy part, womens figure skating. Of course, a fall for most in this competition is not a fall, it is the slight twist of a skate or a hesitation on a landing. Second, high school soccer. I took some time this afternoon to go watch the local public high school in the state quarter finals. They won. Two people fell though: the coach got a red card, was subsequently arrested. The ref followed. No red card for him, but he was arrested as well (at least that was the rumor in the stands). Needless to say, half time lasted a really long time.

Some falls are bigger, and the Thurber quote I caught today just made me make the mental leap to my own high school coach. Our team was a power house in HS. While he was not a classical soccer tactician, this guy knew how to make HS teams win, and to some extent, you just can't argue with that. He was also one of the funniest men I have ever met although I have always wondered if I would find him funny now. Unfortunately, two years or so after I graduated, they caught him living with a student from the all girl school down the road...growing marijuana in his basement.

I've gotten my share of red cards. And I've always been a firm believer that the difference between a slip and a fall is smaller than we all acknowledge. We like to think the distance between the two is big because this lets us get through the day with comfort - it helps us sleep at night. I am also a strong believer that what really matters is how you deal with the fall, whether it be yours or how you judge the person's next to you. Here's to all of those who strike the hour, regardless of whether you are ticking along or in the fall.