Game Recognize Game

Today I watched a group of unaccompanied immigrant children--defined under Federal law as children under the age of 18, without lawful immigration status, and without a mom or dad able to provide for their care and custody--play floor hockey. On the bus the driver blasted the "All About the Benjamins Remix" and sang along, prompting me to wonder for the umpteenth time why they bleep-out "Hebrews" in the line, "you should do what we do/stack chips like Hebrews." (The only other two words bleeped out in that song are "pussy" and "chocha," which actually mean the same thing, and definitely are not in the same category as "Hebrews." no matter how the Supreme Court defines obscenity. #"the FCC won't let me be or let me be me so let me see.").

Watching these kids play floor hockey was fascinating, and not just because they diligently adhered to the rule about not raising their sticks higher than their waist. it was the spirit with which they played the game. Though (WARNING: culturally-based assumption) my guess is that this is one of the first few times that many of these indigenous children from Guatemala have played floor hockey, they possess a true love of the game. They play honestly; they have no animosity for the opposing team; they have fun when they play.

Though these may seem like simple things, to anyone who has ever played pick-up basketball anywhere in the United  States, they are not. I've seen 40-year old men at the JCC play sports with less humility, maturity, and respect than these kids without parents who have no idea what country they'll be living in six months from now. Now this could easily slide into a "noble savages"-type narrative or a "poverty is simplicity" rant or a #first world problems moment. But I won't presume to know what makes them play differently. I just know that they do.

Maybe it's the fact that they're all in this together; "strangers in a strange land." Maybe if they were back in their neighborhoods at home they'd be throwin elbows and talkin trash the way that Reuven, Zak, and I used to do (or at least I did--I'll let Zakface and Freight Train speak for themselves). But maybe there really is something wrong with our outsized American egos and, ironically, our machismo. Your manhood is not threatened just because someone else makes a lay-up. Get over it.

Every kid on a team is told to "go have fun out there," but I've rarely seen anyone able to do it. these kids seem to know how. I'm tryin to figure out why.