Sunday Visions, July 1, 2012

Interesting week, to say the least. The Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of the Health Care law and the resultant whining of just about everybody on the right (all of whom had been sanctimoniously telling everybody how they just "knew" it was unconstitutional) lead to one of my happiest joyful days in a long long time. Seriously, my sense of "schadenfreude" (which I admit is one of my major sins) had me going around the house singing both "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" and also the "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy" song of the cartoon characters Ren and Stimpy.  As I admit, much of the joy was totally in seeing such insufferable  know-it-alls go through major episodes of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.  My joy is tempered of course, because I know from a lifetime of observation and reading of history that the fight between those who view healthcare as a right (persons like myself) and those who view it as being only deserved by those who are wealthy enough to purchase it will go on.  I firmly predict that the fight will indeed, go on long after I'm gone, but it still was nice to savor a brief victory this week.

Speaking of savoring victory, many young athletes were doing just that this week in Eugene, Oregon at the US Olympic Trials for the Track and Field events.  All those who competed at the OT are deserving of praise in my eyes, but I though a few deserved a definite mention on my part.  Galen Rupp placed first in both the 10,000 meters and the 5,000 meters races, and in the latter race he actually broke the longstanding (since 1972) Olympic Trials Record of my hero, the late Steve Prefontaine.  Congratulations Galen!  Do us proud in London in a few weeks!
 Decathlete Ashton Eaton set a World Record in his event.  Go Ashton!
 Hyleas Fountain won the women's Heptathlon after having failed to finish in last years World Championships.  Best of luck to her as well!  One of the things I love about the sport of Track and Field is that there are always stories of new athletes to cheer for and older ones giving it their best in one more shot.