I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke

I would like to throw a bone to my older friends and ask them if they remember the Coca Cola marketing slogan, "I'd like to buy the world a Coke." For those of you who are younger, the concept that people around the world might be drinking Coke seemed beyond belief. How would they hear about it? How would they get it? Multinational, not to mention multicultural, were hardly buzz words used by regular folks like me and my friends. To add credence to the circuitous path upon which I am embarked, the cover of Sports Illustrated around this time had a picture of Pete Rose with the caption, "I want to be the first $100,000 singles hitter." 100K for a guy who hits singles? No way. And my contribution, "When gas gets to be .50 cents a gallon, I'll walk." I have often joked in my talks that our biggest worry when I was a freshman were the pterodactyls snatching first year students off of the quad lawns at college. Sometimes I feel like a dinosaur, sometimes I fee like a nut. Sorry...it was there and I had to take it.

In the last two days, I have had a wonderful visit from my first boss, Dr. David and his wife Dr. Carolyn Stephen. They live in California and were coming through. We laughed and wondered how he supervised myself, Jim Peacock, Dan Ahern, Robin Elmer, Sally Click, Dan Grindeman and others at the same time. He simply said he felt he had earned his money. David has always been a true friend, mentor, and the living embodiment of how a man can be open with his feelings towards others.

My friend Dr. Michael Finley texted and said he had lit a candle for me in the Grotto at Notre Dame in Indiana. Moments later, Greg Smith, a friend and Dad of Lily Smith, my first softball player to go on to play in college, emailed to tell me that Chief Mansaray in Sinkunia, Sierra Leone, Africa was raising my name in prayer at the Muslim Mosque there. Our softball team supports the school that Greg, his wife Claire, and Lily have started which has children from seven villages that used to hate each other learning side by side. The aforementioned Jim Peacock sang me a love song on YouTube, the highlight lyrics including, "We're not steaks and martinis, we're cold beer and weenies."

The world is a huge and shrinking place. A candle at Notre Dame, a Mass in Oxford, Mississippi, a prayer led by an African Chief, a love song from my buddy Jimmy, a visit from my first professional mentor. Add the cloistered Nuns my cousin Kathy has praying for me, my son JJ's friend Grace enlisting her Jewish community in prayer, and each of your kind thoughts and actions.....and really.....something has to get through! The gospel song says, "Are you ready for a miracle?" And the response echoes my solemn prayer and wish, "Ready as I can be."

Thank you for caring and for your encouragement. The interconnectedness of all of this is overwhelming and is taking some of my lack of understanding of buying the world a Coke away. I would likely prefer to buy the world an In-N-Out Burger or a Jamesons, but it is the same concept. Have a great weekend and know you are making a difference in my life. Bigger than you can imagine. I am cocooned in your care and love and though walking in a valley shadowed with concern, I do not walk alone.

Will