Social media was buzzing with outrage and opinions last weekend, like it does every day of the week, when a well-aged Phillies fan became irate over a home run ball that was hit into the stands by Harrison Bader of the Phillies. As the crowd scurried for possession of the battered ball, a father who was attending the game with his family to celebrate his son’s tenth birthday, scooped up the baseball and gave it to his son who placed it in his mitt.
A happy lifetime memory shared by father, son and family; suddenly became an infamous moment that would be shared with the entire world. The well-aged Phillies fan was livid that this baseball wasn’t in her possession. At this point, she proceeded to stomp her way over to bother and berate the father and the young boy. The father, anxious to diffuse this tense situation, had his son give the baseball to the angry Phillies fan.
She then proceeded to walk away looking victorious. Thrilled that she had just achieved some Olympian victory as opposed to what it was; a hollow win over a child. Sixty seconds of fame predicated on her insatiable need to possess something that she wanted, as opposed something she needed.
Social media providing people with a safe space to virtue signal their own superiority in their condemnation of the incident. While most people condemned the angry Phillies fan for taking the baseball away from this kid on his birthday, others were angry at the father for diffusing the situation when he had his son give her the baseball. Preferring that he respond with escalating violence as opposed to pulling his family out of harm’s way.
Unlike the cybernetic bubble of social media, the real reality of life is that all humans have this perverse need to take things that don’t belong to us. Not only other people’s stuff but also other people’s lives. Even when we have more stuff then we could ever use or need. Stuff that ain’t going with us when we depart this realm.
This eternal script of people taking things that don’t belong to them repeated in real-time for the whole world to view. A plot line that begins with both Adam and Eve taking something that doesn’t belong to them because they desired it. A screenplay portraying pride; a trailer previewing theft; a movie we’ve all starred in even if the camera’s weren’t rolling.
While I believe the angry Phillies fan was wrong to do what she did, I’m also acutely aware of all the times in my life when I have failed to be gracious or generous. Remembering my own episodes of selfishness because I wanted what I desired. Recalling the times in my life when I took something that didn’t belong to me because I could or thought I deserved it. Reminding myself that any judgment of others should always begin with humble self-reflection as opposed to haughty self-aggrandizement.
This heartfelt memo to always humble myself, is borne out of a heart that’s been born again. A heart in service to love. A heart in service to all people. A heart in service to God. God is love.
Living a life in service to Love is redemptive and ridiculed. While my life has been freed from the endless need to compete, to be perfect or to accumulate; it’s a direct challenge to a culture that worships worldly wealth, that reduces humans to objects of possession and one that preaches a salvation centered on stuff.
To those online armchair quarterbacks who criticized the father for de-escalating the situation as opposed to fighting with another human over a baseball, I would urge you consider what’s really important here. Pride or the safety and well-being of your family. Teaching your child to react to every bully in life with vehemence isn’t healthy or loving; not for your child or any children.
Jesus explicitly clear that love, not might makes right. That those who live by the sword will die by the sword. If a woman asks for your baseball, give her your mitt as well.
Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. The Marlins franchise gifted the birthday boy with a bag of goodies, and Harrison Bader took time after the game to meet with the family and present his young fan with a signed baseball bat. A birthday celebration that this child and his family will always remember. Learning a lesson in love in spite of the selfishness of one person; learning a lesson in love because of the overwhelming generosity of many people.
Peace. God loves you.