Baseball in Vienna

Last night I purchased the Billy Joel Complete Hits Collection, and loaded it onto my iPod. I did this for a few reasons. First, I'm a huge Billy Joel fan. He's quite possibly my favorite artist in the genre. Second, I used to own a 2-CD set of his and I (along with my good friend BJW) loved to listen to it, but I've sense lost it, and I was bitter. So, I bought this big collection of songs. I listened to most of the first CD last night while dinking around my apartment. It was very much like the 2-CD set I once owned. I meandered though the second and third CDs while at work today. More of the same (which is a good thing.)

Tonight, I went for a walk. I wasn't particularly excited about going on the walk. It was a little cloudy and rain was a possibility, so I put it off until around 7:00. At this time, I got bored enough that I put on my slightly shrunk U. Of I. sweatshirt, blue Smart Wools and sandals, and I headed out, grabbing my iPod of course.

So I'm walking along, listening to the 4th CD, and I discovered that the whole CD was done in a small, personal, non-concert style. It reminded me of the VH1 Story Tellers shows that I used to get sucked into when I still had cable. About halfway though my walk, I came to the part where Billy Joel is asked, "Why Vienna?" Despite my appreciation for Billy Joel's music, I had never heard the song Vienna, so I didn't fully understand the question. Billy went on to discuss how, historically, Vienna was a place of cross-roads; a place of continuance. He learned this when he went to visit his father, who lived in Vienna, and noticed an old woman, probably 85-90 years, who was sweeping the street. He asked his father why she was doing this, and his father lightly lectured him on how this woman was happy, and she was serving a purpose. In most countries outside of the United States, elders are respected. They're not put into retirement homes, out-of-sight, out-of-mind, but rather treasured as a resource. They are useful.

After explaining all of this, he gets to his song, which is about going too fast through life, trying to squeeze everything out of it before getting old and useless. The moral of the story is "Vienna waits for you." Slow down, enjoy life, and come to realize that you will still be useful and respected in old age.

As this song was playing, I walked by a father, playing a game of big-red-plastic-bat baseball with his children and some of the neighbor kids in front of his house. None of the children could have been much more than 10 years old. One of the younger kids mis-threw the ball and it landed near me. I picked it up, threw it back to the father, and noticed how happy he seemed. They were all happy. The kids were laughing, the father was smiling, and I found myself smiling as well. It seemed to coincide with the music perfectly, and with life in general.

"Slow down, you crazy child. You're so ambitious for a juvenile, but if you're so smart, tell me why are you so afraid." ... "When will you realize Vienna waits for you?"


I continued walking. Actually, I extended my normal route to over twice its length. It was one of those joyful and surreal moments in a persons life, and I was happy.