Thursday Thoughts: A Calling

Hi Everyone, 

If you ever look at the Club website, orindawoodstennis.com, at the bottom of each page is a weather summary, a link to our Orindawoods Weather Station on Weather Underground (it says it’s 96 degrees – Wednesday at 4:53 p.m.), and there is some info “About us” and some contact info. Then there is the latest Tweet, which dated May 3, 2018. Sorry, guess I don’t tweet (much). J

That particular Tweet was about the pool opening that year, 2018. My those were heady days, when pools opened, and kids played. 

With all this heat, of course people have been wondering about the pool. Well, we have one, and it’s NOTopen. 

While pool water is safe, so many of the other things that go with people in a pool area are not safe, especially with social distancing requirements. Swimming and masks doesn’t work very well, for example (Is that water boarding?). 

I overhead this definition the other day: “Water boarding is when you try to take a drink of water with your mask on.” – Shelter in Place humor, at it’s finest. 

So how do we cool off this summer? I saw some kids running through the sprinklers the other day in their front yard. Boy, that brought back some memories. And not a bad idea. That was a lot of fun when I was ten years old. (The world is simpler when you are ten, at least it used to be. Not sure about now, I’m not ten.) 

I remember too, there was a piece of plastic, called a slippery slide, or something like that. Did you have one of those? It was a long strip of plastic that you covered in water and then ran towards, jumped up and slid across on your side like you were sliding into second base. Seemed like you could slide forever. Great fun. Lots of laughter. 

In Healdsburg, where I grew up, we didn’t have a club or a community pool. In fact, very few homes had pools (probably not the case anymore, we’re so hoity toity these days, wine country, villas and all that…). We would all go down to the river and swim in one of several swimming holes. The family favorite was “behind the mountain.” 

In those days, it seemed strange to swim in water that was clear, water where you could see the bottom. It is still a bit odd to me, to be honest (once a country boy, always a country boy) and I’ve never been much of a pool person. Something about water shouldn’t smell like chemicals. 

I remember being at the Monterey Bay Aquarium once and they had this science display for kids, and adults that still were curious (is that what most adults lose?). There was this cup of clear water, and this disgusting cup of water that had lots of green stuff, and a sign asked which the fish would prefer to live in. Of course, the answer was the green stuff. 

Maybe I could relate. Sort of. At least before our world was hermetically sealed in seat belts, air-bags, bike and ski helmets, and face masks. Not to mention sunscreen and sun glasses. 

Not really complaining about all that, face masks seem like a real good idea right now, but it is a different world. As the joke goes, “It is amazing we survived childhood with so few protections.” 

Anyway, I’m sure there was a point I was trying to make, but it seems to be lost…. 

Oh yeah, our Twitter feed and the pool opening. Perhaps as a celebration, if our pool is ever allowed to open, I will do another tweet. You know, a tweet every few years, whether we need it or not. J

I have to admit, I kind of fell in love with the idea of tweeting from the movie Chef. A very cute story, where the son helps his dad by tweeting about his food truck as it crosses the country. Great food, great music. A Cubano sounds really good right now. But now days, tweets seemed full of hate and anger. Lots of anger. 

I do get notified about tweets concerning my beloved Arsenal Football Club, which hasn’t been playing of course due to COVID-19 but are starting to train again, with the thought of playing games again in empty stadiums for TV audiences (money). 

Must be so weird to be a professional athlete, used to playing for crowds, the thrill, excitement and passion, playing in empty stadiums. Of course, the same applies to tennis, and various discussions about the US Open, if, when, where, how, who, etc…

For the English Premiere League, they may even CGI in some fans (and singing) so that it will feel like real English football again, and not pretend masquerade that it is. Not sure that would be watchable. 

The philosophical question of our times: Does pretending everything is OK make it seem more OK, or make you even sadder, with a greater sense of loss? For example, does fake cheese make you pine even more for the real cheese? Your true Wisconsin love? (be still my beating heart and clogged arteries). 

I used to listen to a couple of weekly Arsenal podcasts, read blogs, and watch all the games, and read all kinds of articles, and I just don’t do any of that any more. Sports, and their loss hits hard. But talk about nothing (no games) is worse. 

Even writing about the Super Bowl a couple weeks ago in one of these musings, made me feel like I was talking about something from the very distant past (gladiators in the Roman coliseum), and not just February 2^nd. It all seems from a different world, and unimportant now. 

Guilty pleasures. There are a few guilty pleasures I enjoy in this pandemic time, however. Life isn’t all suffering, and the old ways are not all great. For example, I don’t mind driving straight to work, in twenty minutes, no real traffic. No real traffic jams. I could do that the rest of my life. That would be OK. Clear skies are pretty nice too. Going for walks, breathing the air, as in fresh air, and much fewer allergies. Have you noticed that? And cooking, cooking is OK. Actually fun, and a nice time to spend with people in the household. Who would have thought? 

Of course, this is counterbalanced by a desire to return to the good ol’ days. You know, back when we ate in places called restaurants before everything became like Chinese take-out and pizza delivery. Not that I’m knocking it, “I’ll take an order of Kung Po Chicken and a Zachary’s pizza. Thank you very much.” Gotts Roadside “to go” is pretty good too… 

Imagine a time when I didn’t cook every meal at home. Wow. Before my hands were chaffed from washing the dishes, or just washing… ALL  – THE --TIME. Never had to use hand cream before 10 weeks ago. 

It is so strange to be even writing this, thinking about things from the far, distant past, … i.e. two months ago. 

It’s a real time warp, isn’t it? And the whole mental construct of what “normal” is. What is “normal,” and what are we trying to get back to? Or are we trying? 

I’ve heard there are these places you can go to get your hair cut, trimmed, colored, and just done up. Wow, I forgot all about that (except when I look in the mirror and contemplate a pair of scissors – and generally go, “Nah, don’t risk it. This could get ugly fast.” – my own personal choice – some are braver than I). 

We have had a lot of questions about summer activities, like Junior Tennis and Junior Tennis Camps. Orindawoods Tennis Club is taking it real slow here. Going from no school allowed because it is impossible to social distance and schools are germ factories, to it is OK to have groups of kids run around together for recreation seems like wishful thinking to me, but hey, that’s just me. 

Our goal is to follow the health directives and keep Orindawoods as safe of place as possible for our members, staff and owners in this brave new world. The members of Orindawoods have been amazing here. We want to be amazing back. 

A story was related to me the other day of how a member said in a positive voice, “Maybe we’ll be able to play without masks soon!” 

One of the friends they were playing with said, “I don’t think I’m comfortable with that. It seems too soon. I wouldn’t feel safe with that.” 

And the first person, upon reflection, but a bit sad, concurred, “Me too.” 

It is easy to get caught up in the wave of joy about returning to normal, but most people are pretty smart, and if you think about it a bit, maybe those dreams need to be on hold a bit longer. 

We’ll see what the joy of Memorial Day looks like on June 20^th. (I so want to be wrong). 

And of course, there is the sad topic of our Tennis Socials.

Even writing the word “social” seems like “a no-no” these days. Unless it is followed by “distancing,” it’s new love partner. This relationship may last awhile. Don’t know if it will lead to nuptials, but it seems serious. I think we’ll be seeing those two together for a long time. They’re a hot item. Steamy stuff. 

***

There is a story from ancient Japan of two great warriors, martial artists. One lived in the north, and one in the south. They had never met. It was always a topic of conversation throughout the country as to who was the greatest fighter. It came to pass that the Shogun called all the warriors to the capital for national business, and both men journeyed, one north, the other south, to the capital. It was seen as a great opportunity to put the debate to rest, and it was arranged that they would meet. Finally, an answer to the question on everyone’s mind, who was the greatest? 

A dojo was arranged, and all the disciples and other dignitaries met to witness the outcome of this much anticipated contest. The crowd sat around the edges of the mat. The two warriors faced each other, bowed, and then prepared in ready positions. The referee moved to the middle of the mat, clapped his hands, signaling for the contest to begin, and carefully backed away from the trained killers. Both men held their positions, both ready to strike, neither moving. You could hardly tell they were breathing; such was their skill, pose and balance. 

After a couple of minutes, the referee returned to the middle, clapped his hands, signaling the end of the match: a draw. The two warriors bowed. They were both declared the greatest. 

For you see, in combat, the prey moves first (gets off balance), and then the predator strikes. 

We see this in the natural world as well. The predator, gathers, pauses, waits, ready to spring, the prey, fearful starts to run, committed in course and direction, and the predator pounces. It's the cat and mouse, the lion and gazelle, the wolf and the reindeer. If the predator misses, he tries again. The predator doesn’t always have to be successful; the prey always does.

And what if two predators meet, like the cobra and the mongoose? The mongoose scares the cobra to the pit of its soul, so the cobra loses its cool, moves first, the mongoose responds and kills. The deadliest snake in the world is no match for the mongoose. Cute little fury thing. 

So COVID-19 stalks us, measures our moves, waits to strike. Do we run; do we pretend we are not being pursued? Or do we stand and fight, not by moving, but waiting, with the tools we have: social distancing, masks, washing hands, not touching our face. 

The Tao te Ching talks of combat, of competition like this: 

The best athlete wants his opponent at his best. The best general enters the mind of the enemy. The best businessman serves the communal good. The best leader follows the will of the people.

All of them embody the virtue of non-competition. Not that they don't love to compete, but they do it in the spirit of play. In this they are like children and in harmony with the Tao. – Tao #68

The generals have a saying: "Rather than make the first move it is better to wait and see. Rather than advance an inch it is better to retreat a yard."

This is called going forward without advancing, pushing back without using weapons.

There is no greater misfortune than underestimating your enemy. Underestimating your enemy means thinking that he is evil. Thus you destroy your three treasures and become an enemy yourself.

When two great forces oppose each other, the victory will go to the one that knows how to yield. – Tao #69

***

So, I sit here this evening, joking around with you, telling a story or two, and I have to say, what comes up for me is an amazing sense of gratitude. 

Yes, gratitude.