In the hundreds of media commentaries that followed this imperfect perfect game, the word most often used to describe Galarraga was grace. The word seemed to fit, but the more I thought about it, the more I wasn’t sure exactly what it meant. I understand graceful. That’s a big reason why I like watching sports…the play of a shortstop can be as beautiful, graceful as the moves of a ballerina. But grace is not graceful. Grace carries with it strong Christian overtones that I, as a Jew, just did not have ingrained in me as part of my upbringing. As Alexander Pope said, “To err is human; to forgive divine”. Were baseball’s pundits comparing Galarraga to God?
I went to the dictionary and looked up grace:
- elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.
- a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment.
- favor or good will.
- a manifestation of favor, esp. by a superior: It was only through the dean's grace that I wasn't expelled from school.
- mercy; clemency; pardon: an act of grace.
- favor shown in granting a delay or temporary immunity.
- an allowance of time after a debt or bill has become payable granted to the debtor before suit can be brought against him or her or a penalty applied: The life insurance premium is due today, but we have 31 days' grace before the policy lapses. Compare grace period.
- Theology.
- the freely given, unmerited favor and love of god.
- the influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them.
- a virtue or excellence of divine origin: the Christian graces.
- Also called state of grace. the condition of being in God's favor or one of the elect.
- moral strength: the grace to perform a duty.
- a short prayer before or after a meal, in which a blessing is asked and thanks are given.
- (usually initial capital letter) a formal title used in addressing or mentioning a duke, duchess, or archbishop, and formerly also a sovereign (usually prec. by your, his, etc.).
- Graces, Classical Mythology. the goddesses of beauty, daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, worshiped in Greece as the Charities and in Rome as the Gratiae.
- Music. grace note.
With the help of dictionary.com, especially the second and third bullets under 8 above, it becomes clear that when a human is severely wronged and is able to smile, remain calm, not attack his offender, finish the job at hand and then forgive, many of us see the inner beauty as coming from God. Maybe it does. Aren’t we all made in God’s image? If so, image is not enough. Go ask Serena, John McEnroe or that Pakistani squash player from my February “Schwing!” blog. They showed anything but grace in their outrageous court behaviors. Galarraga not only had grace, he had grace under fire. For some, like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, that quality did come from a spiritual strength. I know nothing about Galarraga’s faith. To me, he just seems like a happy guy. For some reason, Venezuelans are, by World Value Survey, among the happiest people in the world. I think that one cannot have grace under fire without an inner peace, whether from religion, spirituality, a Caribbean “don’t worry, be happy” mentality or even Prozac. No matter…Galarraga’s perfect game with its asterisk is more perfect than any other because of his grace.
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.” Gandhi
"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love." Martin Luther King, Jr.
“When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realized that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.” Emo Philips
