Last night, two of my very favorite people attended a World Cup game in Kansas City. My dad and Moses (Vincent) got to sit with 69,000 other people in Arrowhead Stadium and watch Lionel Messi break records. 90% of the crowd was wearing Argentina jerseys, so I can only imagine that the joy was palpable. I have been thinking about how bizarre it is that I met Moses almost 20 years ago in Sirembe, Kenya, when he was a 14-year-old asking me to help him get a protractor for his exam, and now he is at the World Cup in Kansas City with my dad. My dad and Moses have such a strong and loving relationship that has nothing to do with me. He just became a part of our family, and here we are.
In 2010, I got a last-minute chance to attend the World Cup in South Africa with my friend Andrea, and it was incredible. I am not really a big sports fan, definitely not much of a soccer fan, but this experience showed me just how important sports can be for the world. We arrived at the airport in Johannesburg and, immediately after exiting baggage claim, came out into this rotunda. It went up multiple stories, and there were people on every level from different countries holding their flags, singing and cheering in their own languages. It was a real representation of world peace or the United Nations of my dreams. Everyone was enthusiastic and cheering for different teams, but it was peaceful and full of so much joy!
The game I attended was at the historic Ellis Park between Slovakia and Italy, and that stadium was pulsating. The energy was incredible. I was cheering and talking crap to people–completely into the entire game. I mean, what can I say, when in Rome.
Sports can bring people together in ways that nothing else can. We in the U.S. just experienced it with the Knicks winning the NBA championship! It's so beautiful–seeing thousands of people in the streets of NYC cheering and singing and celebrating together. Witnessing shared joy is a rare thing these days, and it was so heartwarming to see.
The World Cup is similar, except with the entire world involved! People from all over the world attend the games. People from all religions, every race and ethnicity, and all walks of life are excited and invested in it. Those who can't attend in person crowd around television screens, some in high definition, and some hooked up to car batteries–which is how I watched my first World Cup game in Sirembe. Others listen to the games on the radio or watch on their phones. It's a time when the entire world is focused on the same thing, and a win (sometimes even just a goal) on this scale allows us to experience a huge amount of collective joy, and I know we all need more of that.
Wishing us all more collective joy–it helps to restore our humanity like nothing else. That's our gooooooaaaaalllll