Somehow, my dad got a commemorative baseball from Fenway Park. It looks like an ordinary baseball, except that it says commemorating... something, with a big 500 on it. The reason I don't know what exactly it says is because the writing is smudged and has a big mark on it from where the bat hit it. That's right, we took the special Fenway Park commemorative baseball and actually played baseball with it.
Oh! The horror!
Actually, I was all set to be horrified about it when I realized... the entire purpose of a baseball is to be hit by a bat. That's what it's for. To not hit it would be to deprive it of meaning. I suppose that having "Fenway Park commemorative... something... 500" printed on it could change things a bit. But I don't think so, whatever it has printed on it gives it meaning. But it has a deeper meaning, that of being a ball, and no printing can really change that. It's purpose is inherent in its shape, it is round, therefore, it is meant to be thrown and hit and played with.
It's like communion. Whether you believe that in transubstantiation or not, the purpose of the Eucharist is to be eaten, not to be adored or worshiped.
Too often we take an object and assign to it too much importance. Or a meaning not its own. But when we do that, we're really just depriving that object of its purpose.
Redeeming the time
9 years ago
The designers of this ball had misunderstood it's purpose and all but doomed it to a unfulfilling existence? Or you're just really good at justifying yourself.
ReplyDeleteObviously, I don't know the designers, but I think if they cared at all about the sport, they're whole purpose in giving away a baseball should be that the baseball gets played with.
ReplyDeleteOr I'm really good at justifying myself.