Real Pressure

It's important to keep in perspective what is entertaining and what is important.

Over the past week here in Rochester we have had soccer-mania.  The US Women's Soccer team was competing in the World Cup, and Abby Wambach is from our area. Yes, she is the one who really used her 'head' to help the US get into the semifinals and the finals.  After each victory, the sportswriters, from near and far, talked about the 'pressure' the US team was under to proceed to the next round.  They were under pressure to win a World Cup, since the last one was in 1999.  They were under 'pressure' to do well for our country (we love a winner).  They were under 'pressure' to win since this might be the last time many of them will play together for the US.

Hmmm...pressure...pressure...pressure...

Now, if you ask anyone who knows me, I am quite the sports fan.  I am in awe of athletic ability that I will never possess that breaks the laws of physics.  I am a shameless 'homer' when it comes to local sports teams.  I am an armchair strategist and Monday morning critic.  And the word 'pressure' gets bandied about in sports as if the world will stop on its axis if a player shows to be merely human and doesn't make the big play at the time it was needed most.

But if you want to know what real 'pressure' is, how ' bout a firefighter trudging his / her way into a burning building to save a crying child?  Or a surgeon about to operate on the tiny heart of a newborn infant?  Or a teacher facing a class of kids that everyone else has given up on?

If we really pay attention, we will see heroics every day.