The Worlds We Do Not Know

I spent this morning in a world I do not know, and before I say just where I was, I want to explain that we all live in our own worlds to a certain extent. Even those of us who hold a "shared value" that it is an important part of who we are and what we believe to try our best to reach beyond our personal worlds . . . even we live in a world surrounded by other worlds that may not share that value. If that makes sense.

But in a far less philosophical sense, there are worlds in which certain things are paramount that matter very little beyond that world. Somewhere right now there is a scrap-booking party going on, and those scrappers are thinking of nothing else. (Bloggers can relate to that.) In Alaska, Governor Sarah Palin's husband is a "snow machine" champion. That race is a highlight of his year. And there are hundreds of others who enjoy it just as much. Me? It's been years since I rode on a snow mobile at 80 MPH. Yes, I've done it, but I just don't live in that world.

There are people who live to collect baseball cards or vinyl records. It's a sub-culture all its own. Somebody somewhere today put the last coat of paint on a refurbished '64 Mustang, and he can't wait for the first of a dozen parades he has paid to drive it in. Somewhere out in New Mexico, a man is refolding his hot-air balloon in which he will race all summer in venues all across the Midwest.

Someplace in this world right now someone is carving something beautiful our of whale bone and his world revolves around bone and blades to shape it with. Scrimshaw they call it. Some parent somewhere today watched their child perform in a piano recital--not a "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" ordeal. No, I mean a recital that would give you goose bumps where judges have to tell one in a hundred performers that he gets to move on to "Nationals." My daughter plays our piano nearly every night. I love it, but we don't live in that competitive piano world. I'm so glad.

All across the world right now there are athletes putting in ten-hour days in hopes of making the cut for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. Everything they do between now and that event will revolve around becoming the best in their particular sport. They will be devastated if they don't make the cut.

I on the other hand, know barely enough to write another sentence about the random "worlds" I just imagined. And likewise I know little about the world I sat in today.

The world in which I was an alien today was a place called competitive cheerleading. We went to cheer on my niece's squad. I know something about regular cheerleading--you know the kind where a bunch of girls along the sidelines root for the team. "Dribble it; pass it; we want a basket" and all that stuff. I've been sitting on the bleacher side of that kind of cheerleading all my life. In fact, my youngest is in our squad at school and she enjoys it very much. I like our world. It suits me fine.

But there is a "world" in which competitive cheerleading is not so much about cheering on the team. In this world the cheerleaders themselves become the team. It's very much like gymnastics competition where the girls get so good at every move, and they're so synchronized in every step, and the skill sets and expectations are so high, that the most competitive squads tend to win or lose more by "mistakes" than by the thousands of things they do perfectly.

My niece Katelyn K. is a "Flyer" for the newly crowned 2009 State Champion squad. In the world of her high school in Rochester, Michigan, competitive cheerleading is so valued that they have been state champions for 16 of the past 20 years.

I'll be the first to admit that cheerleading is not my thing--neither is collecting baseball cards or carving whale bone or bobsledding--but sometimes it's very interesting to step into a world where you know almost nothing and sit elbow to elbow with parents and fans cheering on a collective effort that, I must admit, keeps everyone on the edge of their seat. I was a nervous wreck until the last "mount" came safely back to earth.

To my surprise, when we got back home, the clip below was already on Youtube. I did not shoot it, but my voice (and my wife's and daughter's and sister's and brother's and my brother and sister-in-law's, too) is in the screaming mob behind this hand-held camera.

My niece is the high flyer in the center-rear of the mat ten seconds into the footage.



Last year's Round Three performance at the State Championship

Here is a routine in their home gym. Look at the banners on the back wall. That is all a part of this world that I did not know.

Both the 08 and today's 09 state championships were held at the Delta Plex in Grand Rapids where about 500 Rochester Cheer fans (three hours from home) were surrounded by thousands of fans cheering on the other squads. We all sat enthralled and entertained all morning through three rounds of competition with eight teams.

If you ever feel like "your world is caving in" remember it is only part of a much bigger world of worlds. Each of them are all full of nerves and hopes and expectations and adrenaline rushes and humbling disappointments. Each of them matters. Life matters. Your world matters far beyond the best or worst thing you've ever done.

But sometimes it gives our life more perspective to step into other worlds where things unfamiliar to us matter greatly to others. It's good to see people pull together in some shared goal. It's good sometimes to be the odd man out asking questions all along the way.

Sometimes it's good to look at the scrap book or the whale bone or the '64 Mustang or whatever else you had no previous shared interest in and to say to the person to whom it matters, "well done."

It was time well spent to watch 16 girls putting their lives in each other's hands ... and to whistle and shout out loud for the niece we only get to see a few times a year but never in her world.

I almost didn't go to this event today. We had all met in GR last night for a nice dinner. Returning today meant getting up at 6:30 AM on a Saturday. I was tempted to sleep in. I wanted to write... about family. (Imagine that, missing a chance to drive 45 minutes to be with family from the far side of the state in order to have time to write about family.) That didn't make sense. Making something that matters to someone else matter to you is sometimes what "family" is all about. I wish I'd learned that sooner in life.

Not only did I learn a little bit about the interesting world of competitive cheer.... I got a big hug from the only cheerleader who knew me in that world as I made my way toward her through the crowd. Way to go, Katelyn!

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By the way, it's my brother Paul (Katelyn's father) who has a more major role (though he probably wishes it weren't so) in the next "Unsettled" chapter. Coming soon...