My oldest son attended the University of Notre Dame.\u00a0 Justin was a true fan (as in “fanatic”) of Fighting Irish football.\u00a0 He lived and died by their win\/loss record, hosted a weekly campus radio show on the subject, and even dyed his hair kelly green one semester.\u00a0 He dressed as a (6-foot tall) leprechaun for every home game, and in the midst of a student section filled with screaming fans, he so stood out from the crowd that he was twice named “fan of the game” and we got to see him on national television.
\nSometimes we’d say to him, “Justin, d’ya think you’re maybe taking this whole thing a bit too seriously?\u00a0 It’s only a game, ya know?”\u00a0 His reaction to our suggestion that Notre Dame football was NOT the center of the Universe was, typically, “ARE YOU KIDDING?!”
\nWe just let him be.\u00a0 He was, after all, in college.
\nThis year he’s living in Nashville and studying with a chef as he takes a year off before starting graduate school next year.\u00a0 To keep expenses down, he linked up with five other guys to rent a house.\u00a0 Those other five are all still in school, two of them in grad school themselves.\u00a0 Saturdays are spent glued to one of the many flat screen TVs in the house, following college football.
\nThis weekend Justin called home on Sunday to tell us a funny story.\u00a0 One of his roommates (Joe) graduated from Tennessee State. During their game on Saturday, Justin observed, Joe was ‘over the edge’ — screaming at the screen, swearing at mistakes, jumping up and down, angry when Tennessee fell behind and jubilant when they scored.\u00a0 And Justin had a huge insight.
\n“I suddenly realized ‘Ohmigod — that’s what I’m like when I’m watching a Notre Dame game!’\u00a0 No wonder people are always telling me, ‘calm down.’\u00a0 I’m a maniac!”
\nYes.\u00a0 And how interesting that you could not see that in yourself until you encountered someone just like you.
\nHow often do we not recognize in ourselves when there’s a concern, yet we can so clearly see it in others?\u00a0 I think that’s because people are mirrors, and they reflect back at us what we are unable to see otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"