Why do so many of us lose ourselves in sports? I’ve written before about fans (a word which is probably derived from the word, fanatic.) But I haven’t attempted to answer why so many of us literally seem to lose our sanity to the gods of sport.
As a somewhat newly minted Red Sox fan (drawn to the game by my son) I am doomed to experience the highs and lows of this operatic team. The Red Sox are popular to many because the life of this team so closely mirrors a Greek tragedy. Routinely, they come close, but not quite. In 2004 they actually won it all. But for most of their over one hundred year history, they have simply brushed the edge of the coveted brass ring.
I wonder if caregivers love sports because they are a pure kind of escape. We marry our passion to a team, scream, shout, cry, and none of it really matters. After all. It’s just a game. Whereas, for caregivers, their work life is all too real….
If you staff a hospital ER, an oncology unit, a hospice, or domestic violence shelter, perhaps it’s a relief to tune into a fantasy world where every win and loss is determined with clean finality on a given afternoon or evening.
The Romans, we would certainly say, took their games too far, letting their gladiators literally fight to the death. Since those times, we simply heap shame on losers and hang gold metals around the necks of winners.
It seems to me that we should be handing trophies to America’s caregivers. They are they ones who are truly winning the life and death battles. They are the ones who are defeating pain and relieving loneliness. They are the ones who are bringing new lives into the world and catching the weak as they fall.
It’s fun to watch games. And I hope you will cheer for the Red Sox (currently down 2-1 against Cleveland.) But the real victors every night and day are America’s caregivers – the ones who dress the world with Love.
-Erie Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
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