Pay Attention, America

So, this was pretty cool. Today we went to the beach as a group - along with about a billion other people - Ghanaians and tourists alike. After the usual nap and cool down swim, we started to play. When I say we,  I mean it started slowly with a few girls playing with some kids. Then a football showed up. Then a disc. For about an hour, we had people aged 5 or 6 all the way to probably 36 or so throwing footballs, discs, running, tackling, diving in the surf and sand. Serious joy happening right there. Little girls, mothers, hyper boys of all ages, young ladies and men were having a great time. The games intertwined, players swapped, people got tackled for no apparent reason and joining was welcome as could be.

Pretty cool image, right? Don't forget to add the sunshine, bar music playing in the backround, waves crashing and the members of our group who for some reason were sitting right down in the middle of all this flying chaos.

Now for the part everyone should pay attention to. I was trying to catch a wayward disc, and low and behold, some young ladies head caught it for me. It wasn't a hard hit, just sorta slightly bounced before dropping to the sand. I rushed to her and started apologizing profusely, saying I'm sorry over and over, just trying to make sure she wasn't mad. In New York when this happens, I get yelled at, told to go somewhere else and to watch it. On the Delaware beaches, people throw me dirty looks the entire time it takes me to go retrieve the disc. As I was apologizing, the man that was with her just smiled at me and said, "Hey, we're at the beach! Stop apologizng; it's the beach! You're just making it hard on yourself!". I was amazed. No one had ever been really gracious about being hit in the head before (not that he had been hit, but she didn't seem too upset either), and NEVER has anyone told me NOT to apologize. I mean, our game did bonk her on the noodle; I feel I should make some sort of reparation, but according to this guy with the big smile, I had nothin' to be sorry for.

Can we learn from this? Yep. Take it easy. Relax. Let kids be kids, and if there's no harm done, let it go. A public place is just that - public. I place for communal, spontaneous and uproarious fun and sport. Yes, respect is of course important - I'm not denying that - but accidents happen. And instead of me feeling guilty and ashamed because of a wayward piece of plastic, I felt like I was living life as it was meant to be lived.

And to get a little more tangible, this is also really indicative of the Ghanaian way, based on what I saw today. Because we were playing in a squarish area with people EVERYWHERE, and not all of us were expert players, we had some mishaps. But every time a passerby caught or picked up a disc, they tossed it to somebody playing, or joined in for a few tosses. Great. Absolutely awesome. Made me feel welcome, and as if there was nothing else I should have been doing in that moment. I'm also impressed - graciousness and fluid generosity of patience is not something I'm familiar with in America.

Thanks, Ghana. America, take heed.