My Jaw Drops

Columbia lost to Brazil in a tight 2-1 match during Friday afternoon’s World Cup tournament. At the end of the game, twenty-two year-old Columbian star, James Rodriquez, was in tears.

Were you watching as Brazil’s twenty-seven year-old, David Luiz--later declared Man of the Match--embraced Rodriquez?

 Having battled it out on the field, they hugged each other hard. When they separated slightly, their arms still on each other’s shoulders, you could see that they were talking, Luiz consoling, Rodriquez, swiping at the tears on his cheeks.

All of a sudden Luiz is pulling his yellow shirt up and over his head, and Rodriquez is doing the same with his red one. The two of them exchange shirts.

My jaw drops.

These two young men who moments before would have crashed into each other to get that ball, elbowed, tripped, shoved, whatever they needed to do to win the game, begin to walk off the field. Their torsos are naked; their arms are wrapped around each other.

 Minutes before, they were soccer warriors fighting for their countries, now they are bare-skinned and vulnerable looking. More importantly, they look the same. Two young, fit, guys, two human beings shed of the symbols of the deeply felt national differences that have defined them all of their lives, especially leading up to, and during the game.

I had tears in my eyes. What if, I thought, what if, we could all do that? Just peel off, drop, remove, whatever ideas, passions and histories we carry around that create a hostile we/they dichotomy--enemies, even--and, instead, see only the bare skin of each other?

Imagine what this world could become if we, like Luiz and Rodriquez, could strip down to that that which makes us all exactly the same: the utter vulnerability of our humanness.

***

Dear Readers

It’s summertime! Time to be outside. The kids are home and family vacations are planned. Therefore I will be posting the blog just once a week on Mondays until school begins again in September. (Unless, of course, some idea in my head insists upon being written, in which case I will pop up unexpectedly.)

Thank you for reading Life Opening Up. Enjoy your summer!