Not just another Sunday

The power of shared experiences is amazing. There is an energy to these events that imprints them as very different from our normal day-to-day events. People always remember where they were when major events happened, remember what they were doing. They might not have felt the same about the event, but people over a certain age remember where they were and what they were doing when the Challenger shuttle exploded. They remember where they were and what they were doing when students stood in front of tanks in Tiananmen Square, and were killed. For people in California, mostly Southern California, those of a certain age remember the L.A. riots very differently than those people that live farther away.

Not all of these events are negative ones. On Sunday (this was written a couple of days after the SuperBowl but I am so lazy that it is only now getting up) millions of people in the U.S. watched the SuperBowl. Regardless of which team you rooted for, you were not alone. Whether you sat at home physically alone, with a group of friends, or sat at a bar with strangers, you were not alone. My brother and sister in Chicago, my brother in Virginia, my brother on a ship somewhere in the Pacific, my parents in Marshall, my friends in L.A., Riverside, Arizona... We all watched together. I would rather have watched the game with all of these people in front of one huge freakin' televison, but that is a tad harder to accomplish.

You could feel the energy from so many people cheering, rooting, praying for the same thing. Last year I missed the game, but I feel like I missed much more than a simple football game. I feel like I missed a connection to those around me. We spend so much time alone in our experiences, so missing a shared experience makes me feel left out.

I know that there are a lot of people that do not watch football, or even sports at all, but it is similar to being at church on Christmas. Anyone who goes to church at all (Christians only I suppose) goes on Christmas. Millions of people, more than at any other time of the year, celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Together. Separated by thousands of miles, separated by language and cultural gulfs, all of these people share this same event.

Similar to the shared experience of a single large event is the repetition of the same event. When I stand in a church, regardless of whether or not it is during mass and filled with people or empty save me, I can feel the energy left by the people that have come before me. The building is infused with their hopes, dreams, joys, sorrows, grief... infused with them. All of them praying for, in theory, the same things. The hundreds, thousands, of people that have stood, knelt, or sat in the same spot leave something of themselves. It is a calming effect, and it can be felt as soon as you step into the building. It was my favorite part about going to church.

I guess it is kind of hard to know what events are going to stick with you, which ones are going to be "historical," but the ones that I really try to hold onto are ones like the SuperBowl. All of us just enjoying the game regardless of who we were or what we believe in. Just whether or not you were a Bears or Colts fan. It was awesome, and I think I am still kind of feeling a high from it. I am sure that something will come to take that away in just a day or two, but for now I will revel in it.