The Natural: Thank You, Mr. Redford

I would like to thank Robert Redford for The Natural.

I had read the novel by Bernard Malamud years ago. I was never quite sure what the aim of the movie was. (In case you haven't read nor viewed it, Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a marvelously natural baseball player who is "sidetracked" and does not accomplish his goal of being the best until his mid-life.)
Today I see what Redford was aiming at in his great film. In times of change - in the times of memory we call "great" - the events and times are rendered great by the men and women who rise to meet the challenges, and who become natural leaders. Some are elected, some are not; some are appointed, some fall into place.

No matter. Great men and women of whatever age - young and old - rise to meet the situation. They carry on human history. Of course, the Civil War comes to mind: Abraham Lincoln, Grant, Albert Sidney Johnston, Longstreet, Sherman and Robert E. Lee; Frederick Douglas and Mary Chestnut and Harriet Tubman.

Now a whole new set of Roy Hobbs are rising up all over the lands of the world. They will have to drop what they are doing and go off to do that which they were destined to do: to be the best of humanity and carry on for mankind. They have nothing in common, other than their love for their country and their countrymen, for the world and its peoples. They are young and they are old. They work in schools and foundries, in airplanes and in social work. They bag groceries and teach physics.

They have hitherto been unknown, for America famously casts its rewards in such a way that " ...the friendless and the unobtrusive are apt to be pushed aside, and to be supplanted by those who can call boldness and influence to their aid."
These are the Naturals.
Now their time has come, whether they want it or not.

They know we cannot leave the wounded world to the likes of George Bush or Dick Cheney, nor to Rush Limbaugh and Anne Coulter, nor to Rupert Murdock, and not to the likes of the best and brightest who have run Wall Street and Washington.
The Naturals will come from the rural villages and hamlets from where the family farms have disappeared; from the rust belt cities from which manufacturing has moved away; from ghettos that have been around a long time and newly decaying suburbs slipping into despair. From these places they will heed the call of a world which has grievously hurt itself, and needs their assistance. They will green the nation, they will restore confidence, they will dispel the veil of despair which negligence and criminal incompetence have drawn before us. They will re-establish the rule of law and justice.




As Roy Hobbs swings his mighty bat, the New York Knights will win again, and we shall dance in the rain; we shall dance in the lights. We shall weep and cry...for joy!

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