Thy Will Be Done

 There was a viral video of a senior Cubs fan slapping a young whippersnapper in the back of the head for not standing up for the national anthem. This was a few days ago at Wrigley Field in Chicago. No audio to hear of, but you imagine the old guy first said something like, "On your feet, ya little shit!". Then, when the kid refused to comply, the geezer gave him an open hand across the back of his head. 

I don't think anyone but me has pointed out that yelling at and hitting someone during the anthem is not proper anthem etiquette either. I'd rather people sit than hit! This is like turning around and screaming at people talking in a movie theater. The correction is often worse than the infraction. This is because people like to suffer in silence, at the top of their lungs. It's why we have 'Karen's'. We always did, but the internet made them viral. 

The old guy (and no one knows who he is) got a lot of support in various threads across the internet. No surprise, but a lot of the nation's maga applauded him imposing his will on the teen. People like to assign their own backstories in these incidents where there are none, and many fancied him to be a veteran who had served or fought for the flag and expected others to respect it as he does. Maybe. If you simply changed the oil in deuce and a quarters in the Army, you did serve and we thank you for your service. I change the oil in my Ram truck, and no one cares. But a lot of veterans and their sons and daughters stepped into the comments to say that they served for your right to not stand for the anthem. This was kind of surprising and refreshing, at least to my ears. The common denominator of war is fighting for freedom, yours or someone else's. This is acceptable, though not always right. What going to war is not is to come back and lord all over your fellow citizens, having somehow earned the right to impose your will onto others. This is what maga doesn't get. You do not have the right to enforce your morals or patriotism upon others just because you wore the uniform or you support the 5-time draft dodger who didn't. It doesn't work that way, just because *you* won. 

One of the most interesting experiences I ever had behind the bar, was a small private party of 10-year-olds who (I think) were celebrating a confirmation, or something similar. They were adorable kids! The boys and girls had their Sunday best on and good manners on full display. We didn't usually book parties like this, but it was for Tony our produce guy. I didn't know him, but I learned a lot about him that day.

These little ladies and gentlemen sipped their virgin strawberry daiquiris and pina coladas and conversed like I wished grownups would. Very polite and actually interesting conversation. One young man brought up the story of the time Tony took them to Sox Park. A drunken lout was imposing his will on the children in front of him kicking their seats and saying whatever to them, because his poor up bringing and alcohol intake gave him agency to do so. The kids alerted Tony to this aberrant behavior, and he went down the row to handle it. Handle it, he did, at first sternly and then, when the loser got tough with him (refusing to leave the kids alone!) Tony jacked him up, big time. He was southside Italian. Not his first rodeo. That's as much as I recall after all these decades and not actually having been there. The kids related the incident honestly and very well. They were rightfully proud of Tony, whether he was their dad, uncle or friend's father. 

Be careful why and who you impose your will upon. You may just find someone more willfully righteous than you. And perhaps also lefteous!