I've got to admit, travelling back to New Jersey from a four-month stint in South Africa has to feel great and terrible just about now. For my friend John, it's great for us to see him, for John, it's terrible because his flight took off approximately 48 hours before the start of the World Cup. But there are thousands of people who have traveled with their national team of choice, and millions around the globe who are participating in one of the most unifying traditions. Soccer has been a historical value for peace, like in Nigeria in 1969 during that country's civil war; in many more nuanced ways, soccer in 2010 is subtly rebuilding damaged international relationships that the United States has had in the past with other parts of the world.
Michael Washington says, "I think that the US team in the World Cup this year really marks an official foray of soccer into the American life. In many ways, it unites us with the rest of the world, and with ourselves in ways that we have up until now, largely ignored were there."
It's true, soccer opens up modes of social interaction and communication between most all groups in the world: one of my friends told me that one of his fondest childhood memories was a vacation to Jamaica when he met two British and Mexican kids playing on a field; although verbal communication was somewhat limited, the power of the game had united them as friends for the duration of the stay.
So, whether or not you're in South Africa or watching the games on tv, there are many health-benefits of an international vacation, especially if it's on the game-field interface.
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