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How do we make sense of things in these trying times? Dialogues on racism so often devolved into monologues where blame is exchanged between white-America and hip-hop culture. Serious discussions on foreign policy so often end up as patriotic, xenophobic diatribes, or unrealistic and naive exclamations for peace. The fallouts from tragedies like that at Virginia Tech usually provide an assortment of contentious debates about gun control, safety, and what preventative measures could have been taken.

It seems this is exactly the process we humans go through in trying to make sense of our world.

We fight whilst we gain understanding. It can be difficult, given the contentious nature of these debates. But consider the alternative, for a moment: we do nothing in response to racism and sexism, we aren’t concerned with the state of our troops and our presence in the world, and we don’t concern ourselves with the safety of our community. The alternative is irredeemably worse than our natural, tumultuous process of understanding. It may not always be pretty, it may not always be immediately fruitful, but it’s a necessary process. We have to ask questions, debate, be angry; we have to grieve.

Yet sometimes our world is too daunting. Every so often we need to take a step back or a step away from the harsh realities of everyday life. Enter: sports. Amidst the ugliness of our world, there’s something comforting to be found in the resiliency and constancy of sports.

Many in need of some therapy, some means of numbing the pain, look to sports. One needs look no further than to the infertile dirt fields of war-torn villages where children muster up enough childlike humanity to break a smile as they kick a makeshift ball back and forth in what stands as their own version of the World Cup.

Inner-city blacktops provide a rallying point for troubled (and seemingly forgotten) youth who wish to get away from it all and just play ball for a few hours. A long day at work leads a businessman to unleash his stress on a racquetball (which is of course made more triumphant by his short-shorts and athletic goggles).

I’m not simplistic enough to claim that all we need right now is a pickup game of basketball to fix the world’s problems. I do feel, however, there is something to be said for the power of short-term escapism. Sports can provide us with an hour of fun in a day that’s filled with many challenging and unhappy hours that drag on too long.

More importantly, sports can allow us to suspend our vitriol towards Imus or Snoop Dogg or Dick Cheney or Virginia gun laws, if only for a little bit. Let me make it clear that we should still be upset and involved and asking questions, but not at the expense of losing track of what’s really important: we have to stick together. It’s not typically anger or blame that brings one or many to a workable solution. Let’s remember that as we move forth, and for goodness sake, if you have time, go whoop your best friend in a game of hoops.