There's a whole world out there that doesn't give a fig about America's wars, progress, motives, problems or leadership, because they're caught up in their own cultures.
Good for them.
Growing up in the U.S., we're not soccer fans, although the situation is changing. Who hasn't heard of "soccer moms"? But why am I watching the World Cup with such fascination when for years I ignored it? Part of the reason is because it doesn't greatly involve Americans. We're not even contenders, and the fact is that we have involved ourselves uninvited in much of the rest of the world.
More of us Americans should watch the World Cup. Why? Because there are billions of people in the world that we don't understand or relate to -- and, I think, don't much care to.
Yes, there's the nutty leader of North Korea, and the various Islamic states on whom we're trying out our learn-as-you-go foreign policy. It's not a great departure from Teddy Roosevelt's big stick, although we're not walking softly, and we have made it clear to other nations we perceive as not on our side that only we can carry a big stick in the form of nuclear weapons.
Yes, we have a foreign policy, with the emphasis on foreign. That says it all, doesn't it? Those people, perhaps like the millions around the world watching the World Cup, are foreigners. We don't have to pay much attention to them. What could they have that we need, unless it makes us money? We already have everything, anyway.
Really? What we don't have are stadiums that seat nearly 200,000 people filled with fervent fans. And you thought Super Domes were awesome.
Yeah, I know; we have fans. I'm a Red Sox fan, and I had my own private holiday when they beat the Yankees in the World Series. But that's a pittance compared to the followings of World Cup teams -- whole nations rooting for their teams.
Is there a lesson here? America is in love with itself, a case of bloated, inverted, navel-gazing narcissism.
Do you think the soccer fan in Paraguay or Argentina cares about what we do in Iraq? No, they have a good laugh about the Gringos marching into a land they have no right to on the other side of the world, and they have another Cerveza as they watch the game sponsored by Bud.
Shut off that prattle on CNN or Fox and turn on the World Cup, if you can find it. I usually resort to watching Univision, although I can't understand Spanish very well. See what a united world could look like -- might look like -- if bullies like America, Russia and China would just dry up.
What you see in a stadium filled with nearly 200,000 fans is the power of the people who are enthusiastic and care about something that has nothing to do with the unhealthy aspects of nationalism and big business. I'm sure the World Cup is not above all that, but maybe the greed hasn't sunk as deep as it has in the U.S., and investment and profit haven't defiled the game and popular support to the point that it takes the joy out of it for the fans, players and coaches quite as much as has happened to sports in this country.
I don't know much about soccer except that it looks like an unglamorous, grueling game that calls for intense physical conditioning. Imagine 45-minute halves with no stopping! But when I see the fervor and enthusiasm of the world over soccer, I am enthralled.
What is it about the quality of these games and the populace of the world that supports them that makes the Olympics look like a high-society event rather than a proletarian preoccupation?
Brazil, the winningest nation, gets many of its players out of the slums; that's also true for many of our own superstars, but there's a difference. I think it's cultural. These players, fortunately or unfortunately, seem to have a quality or spirit that makes them appear, at least to me, as more innocent.
I know they're not, the stars are millionaires. But there is something about the World Cup and the faithfulness and fervor it evokes in people that I think we could learn from.
Bob Katrin, a writer retired from the faculty of Sandhills Community College, lives in Southern Pines.
