I have a collection of “Peanuts” books I have saved from my college days. I was a big fan of the comic strip, which hardly puts me in an exclusive club, and I still enjoy the reruns that appear in the paper today.
In a classic strip, Linus has just watched a football game on TV and comes running out and sees Charlie Brown. He can hardly contain himself he is so excited.
“Charlie Brown, I just saw the most unbelievable football game ever played. What a comeback! The home team was behind 6-0 with only 3 seconds to play. They had the ball on their own 1-yard line.
“The quarterback took the ball, faded back behind his own goal posts and threw a perfect pass to the left end, who whirled away from four guys and ran all the way for a touchdown! The fans went wild! You should have seen them!
“People were jumping up and down, and when they kicked the extra point, thousands of people ran onto the field laughing and screaming! The fans and the players were so happy they were rolling on the ground and hugging each other and everything!
"It was fantastic!”
Rather stoically, Charlie Brown looks at Linus and says:
“How did the other team feel?”
The subject comes up now because we in South Florida have dodged another weather cannonball. Hurricane Irene has bypassed us to the east, unleashing its 135 mph winds on the Bahamas on its way to who knows where. North Carolina, maybe?
As I write this on Thursday morning, it isn’t even raining in my neighborhood, and the wind is but a gentle breeze. It’s overcast, but that’s about it. Life is normal. We have electricity.
As Linus would say, “Fantastic!”
We have just won the game if not on the final play. at least in the final minute.
Whew!
But there’s a losing side here as well. People living in the area where this storm makes landfall are going to take a big hit.
Like Charlie Brown, I can feel for them.
But I do have to admit, I’m glad it’s them and not us. Does that make me a bad person?
(Just for the record, a light shower has started. I don’t feel so guilty now.)
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