Full time whistle.

What brings people together?

I can think of many things.

Beer (Heineken or anything except Tiger).
Conversations. Friendships.
Suffering. Grief.
Coffee. Cheesecake.
Birthdays. Love.
Good books.
Movies.
Song lyrics.
Football.

When we stepped out of the car after coming back from mass, it was 7:40pm and the match had started. I knew because there was unanimous cheering all around the blocks. It must have been right around the time when the first goal was scored. It reminded me of the World Cup final 2 years ago when Brazil played against Germany. I was at Wayne's place at that time but it was the same kind of cheering that echoed all around the blocks. It doesn't matter where you live, what race or social class you belong to. For some reason, these are the ties that bind. And they bind stronger than any speech or national education class will ever do. Days, months and years from now, there will be coffeeshop talk of what happened tonight, just as there is always talk of one momentous match or another long, long, long after the last whistle has been blown.

There is always something inexplicable about finding that there is someone who shares the same rush of excitement or sadness or sense of poignancy about something. To know that the meaning you see is confirmed and affirmed because someone else sees and feels the same thing. To know that and to somehow feel more human for it, this transcendental meeting of the mind and heart.

And to think that I used to imagine soccer as a stupid, mindless sport. :P