Haiku for the week

The world bates its breath
Single shared experience -
The beautiful game

I find something fascinating, very touching about the sense of communion which this worldwide month-long mayhem of the World Cup brings: millions, billions of people glued to their television sets in hushed reverence, witnessing the same images and sharing the same emotions at exactly the same instant.

Here in China everyone is watching: every bar, every café, every restaurant has the TV on (most of them, in fact, have procured wall-sized projector screens for the month), and all their customers are watching the games. The mornings here are noticeably quieter, as people sleep in late, skive off work, after watching the late games. Productivity must be taking a nosedive.

Even people who can't stand the game must appreciate that something magical is happening here: this is as close to unity as humankind ever gets.