This week in the news--it's all about priorities.

Everywhere I turn, someone is talking about the World Cup-- about the scores, about the plays, about what will happen and did happen and could happen.
They aren't talking about immigration, about the _______ number of children that have come over the border with no adult supervision in the last year, about the 3 countries that feel that sending their children alone on a thousand mile trip rather than keep them at home, about why.
They aren't talking about drones,
They aren't talking about the Ebola outbreak that the WHO is reporting on that has affected  567 people and caused 350 deaths since March  in west Africa.
And no one ever spoke about the school girls that were kidnapped by the fanatical group in ______ or what happened too them, or why such a thing was done.
We had an election, and there were two ballots and two sign-in books.  The Republican voters got to vote on a full page of choices, the Democratic got to vote on three.  I've seen times  here when only the Republicans get to vote in the primaries.  I remember all those scare stories about communism and 3rd world dictatorships where everyone voted, but there was only one person to choose from.  It seemed ridiculous, why vote if there is no choice available, but of course there were still two people under each of those items.  They all had the same platform with the same ideas, but more than one person.
No one was talking about that.
Upskirting is now illegal in one state, and the fact we needed a law for that is amazing and the fact that someone thought it should be alright to do that is pathetic--and I hope the next stupid law limits the number of selfies a person can post per day.  And I'm glad no one was talking about that.
No one was talking about ISIS, and I personally find the idea of naming a Islamic political activist group after one of my favorite Egyptian Goddesses very repugnant.
No one mentioned climate change, not even to deny it was occurring.
And the political issues associated putting on an international event--that reminds me of cleaning a badly neglected house then getting a call the in-laws are on the way--dirty dishes in the dishwasher, stove, refrigerator, dirty clothes in the washing machine, behind the shower curtain, under the sink, clutter in the closet floor and under the bed.  Of course this clutter is homeless people, stray dogs/cats, and other signs of negligected poor people.
But reality is, none of the people I see talking about the World Cup are soccer fans.  A few have kids or grandkids that have played when young,  but they didn't spend their time talking about those games.
I'm confused.  I don't care for sports, although I can egg on the grandchild in whatever she is doing, but it isn't like I care who wins.  I'm just trying to be supportive and sports always have a lot of yelling going on (I hear that isn't true with golf but watching golf sounds truly awful, like watching grass grow.)
So it must be some sort of patriotic thing---the USA team is best--YEA!  And we are a competitive country,  Every little child will tell you we are best, the smartest, the strongest, the most free, the most rich, the best opportunities.  We go down our list and tell ourselves we won at something, and---what does that mean.
What if we don't win the World Cup?  What if we aren't the best at everything?  Only one country can be the best a a thing.  The possibility that one country can be the best at everything is definitely against all odds.
But children are still saying it, and parents and teachers are still telling them that.
Maybe it is time to focus on the effort of doing well.  In stead of this weird need to decry our bestness--maybe it is time to talk about doing our best.  Trying our hardest at what is important to us.  Putting effort into what we do, and realizing that the effort is worthy of our parent's and teacher's praise---not because we are the best, and beat the pants off the rest of the kids in class, but because in doing our best--we became a better person.  We learned the importance of perserverance, thoughtfulness, problem-solving, communication, researcher and even teamwork.
If we win the World Cup, will that make our country one bit better for the rest of us?  Tell the US team, congratulations, cheer your young family members efforts, and--do your best.