What the world needs now…

Canada-US tensions are running about as high as they ever have, nowhere more-so than here in Essex County where two of the biggest employers are Ford and Chrysler.  I admit to feeling very sad that this rift happened in the first place, and that there seems to be no way out.  Not yet, anyway.  

This week, though, a story emerged that made my heart fair sing with delight.  Ever since the Dodgers clinched the World Series trophy in Toronto, a week ago (1st November), something very remarkable has happened:  

More than 400 LA fans have made contributions to The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.  Some of those donations are even monthly commitments.  Their reasons?  Some are by way of consolation — Dodger fans know the agony of defeat — but many are out of gratitude because the Jays’ wore #51 on their caps through the seven games out of respect, care and concern for Dodger Alex Vesia who missed the entire series because he was at home with his wife mourning the death of their wee daughter.  In the comments section of the on-line donations, everyone cited the Blue Jays.  

What the world needs now…

One woman even wrote that she hoped this would become an annual tradition.  Just imagine!  Players, owners, and fans of championship teams (not just baseball) donating to the children’s hospital in the city of the losing team.  What an amazing legacy that would be!

If your family, like mine, has had a child or worse, multiple children, hospitalized at Sick Kids, you know not only what a magnificent facility it is, not only how kind, compassionate and loving the care given is, but also what an enormous relief it is to the parents to land in what is one of the finest children’s hospitals in the world.  They feel safe and confident in the care their child is receiving.  That is an incomparable feeling and gift.  

My hat is off to all the LA fans whose show of respect is now reverberating all across Ontario.  But not just to them.  To the many Blue Jays’ fans who, one week prior, made contributions to the Seattle Children’s Hospital after the Jays defeated the Mariners to win the American League Championship.

Dionne Warwick very famously sang,

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of,

and those lyrics have never been more sagacious than they are now.  We don’t need “elbows up”, we need love, the love that the Dodger fans so kindly and generously showered on Toronto.  

’Til next time, y’all…