Brightness amid the gloom

It's pretty damn easy to get depressed about the state of affairs these days. We have a nationally known politician (the badly named Mr. Weiner) whose activities on Twitter suggest he is either naive, foolish or just plain icky. None of those attributes are positive and reflect well on a fellow who used to have some influence.

Here in Minnesota, we are less than three weeks from a statewide shutdown that will send thousands of employees to the sidelines. If the folks who will be charged with this mess (the state legislature and the governor) are concerned about that fact, they are keeping it a good secret. All the public talk has simply been posturing to their fans. Strangely, they will be allowed to get paychecks while keeping others from theirs.

As Tom Lehrer once put it, "Actions like this make you feel like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis."

But leave it to some young folks to perform actions that give you hope. There were two separate events 75 miles apart. Neither will change the course of history. But they give me hope nonetheless.

The first happened Thursday night at the state high school girls' softball tournament in Mankato. St. Paul Johnson's team was about to take the field for its game when rain and lightning halted play. The Johnson team repaired to a tent near the press box. I was standing near them watching the rain. After a few minutes of conversation, it became obvious the game would not start for a while. So, this group of 15-16-17-18 year olds simply improvised some sort of singing game. It is hard to describe but it ended up with one girl having to go in the middle and sing or do something to "tag" somebody else. Then that person went into the middle and did the same to another girl. This went on for half an hour or so. The Johnson girls were having a wonderful time, just laughing and riding each other when someone made a mistake or didn't do the ritual right.

Eventually, their game was called and they had to return at 8:00 a.m. the next morning. High school kids are pretty resilient. On a gray, ugly morning, Johnson gave it a good effort, losing 2-1 to end their season. But they played hard to the end and smiled on their way out of the complex. They didn't like losing any more than any other team does. But these kids seem to understand it was just a game and the companionship meant as much as the final result.

The next incident happened this morning at the local playground. I was walking The Happy Dog when I came across 10 kids, who looked roughly 10-12 years old. They were about to start baseball practice. The coach (I presume) said something and the kids sprinted en masse towards a cone in the outfield. The fellow who got there first was beaming as if he had just won the lottery.

The coach walked slowly out there with a tennis racket and a tennis ball. A kid asked him what was the deal. The coach explained he was going to hit them tennis balls because it would the easiest way to learn how to catch flyballs. Besides, if they got by a tennis ball, it's not going to hurt as much. "Don't be afraid of the ball," he said.

The youngsters didn't seem sold on this idea. But then the coach whacked the first ball in the air. A young guy named Mason raced to his left and caught the ball. He then jumped in the air excitedly. When the coach got ready to hit the next ball, there was a rush of candidates. The next two failed in their quest but a fourth guy caught a ball and earned high fives all around. I'm not sure there were any future major leaguers in the bunch. Parents sitting on chairs looked up from their blackberries and put down their coffees to applaud him.

It was a gentle reminder that, when adults seem to be doing their best to screw the world up, kids, with their inherent optimism and enthusiasm, can ride in and still do something that will make you smile.

Of course, some day, those same kids will become adults. They will then have their chance at doing act as stupidly as Anthony Weiner or as stubbornly as our fine legislators are doing here in Minnesota.

For now, though, their world isn't very complicated. Enjoy it while you can, kids.

But thanks for acting your age. It was enough to make this craggy, occasionally cranky adult smile amid the gloom the rest of the world seems to want to impose on us.