There is a simple sentence appearing in an October 21 NYTimes analysis by Peter Baker, "Nation's Confidence Ebbs at a Steady Drip":
"Every element in the system is rooting for failure."
This is our collective mental illness. We can no longer bring ourselves to celebrate success if for no other reason than it might be shy of what it could have been. Our happiness is the failure of the other side.
In Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Wait 'Til Next Year" she relates an anecdote on this theme. In confessing to a priest her hope that Robin Roberts, the Phillies star pitcher, would get injured prior to playing her beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, the priest suggested it would be better if the Dodgers just beat the Phillies fair and square, using their own talents.
"Every element in the system is rooting for failure."
This is our collective mental illness. We can no longer bring ourselves to celebrate success if for no other reason than it might be shy of what it could have been. Our happiness is the failure of the other side.
In Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Wait 'Til Next Year" she relates an anecdote on this theme. In confessing to a priest her hope that Robin Roberts, the Phillies star pitcher, would get injured prior to playing her beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, the priest suggested it would be better if the Dodgers just beat the Phillies fair and square, using their own talents.