Chasing Happiness

"Chasing Happiness"
image by lanecia

i don't want to hear that Americans don't like football
i donned a soccer uniform when i was 7
made my first goal and grinned with the sunshine
scored a point
for the other team

i don't want to hear that Americans don't like football
as i drive behind a minivan carrying many children
a proud mom of a soccer kid
tells me so
with her bumper sticker

i don't want to hear that Americans don't like football
as we weep at images of starving African children
but on a red dust field in Malawi
a skinny barefoot boy owns nothing but his smile and his dreams
the imaginary goal, his dreamcatcher

i don't want to hear that Americans don't like football
the world's favorite pastime
on manicured fields and crowded streets and shanty towns
this black and white unity ball
speaks every language

I don't want to hear that Americans don't like football
especially since it's a lie
Argentina and Brazil prove the truth
that is
if we dare believe in more than one America

I don't want to hear that Americans don't like football
I don't want to hear that we like buying more for less people
I don't want to hear that we like spending billions on defense and offense
I don't want to hear that we like calling humans aliens

I want to hear that Americans like confession
and reconciliation
and responsibility
and peace
and unity
and chasing happiness for people of all hues and stature and status

and football
may we learn to love football