Watch the video above and you’ll see why I love watching the Little League World Series every year.

The series offers joy. Pure joy. Like that video. Watch these kids. They enjoy the experience, even the opposing team’s achievements.

Little League is pure. No monetary incentives or rewards. The pure athleticism, or not, of its participants. The generosity of the coaches, umpires, refreshment stand staff and others, all of whom volunteer their time. You read about how a little league team can pull together a community in common purpose. How the kids, no matter their nationality, or level of talent or desire for the battle on the field will, when off the field, play, swim and talk together. Cumbaya. We can all get along. Among the teams there this year were China, Uganda, Chinese Taipei, and many others. A United Nations of little league teams.

I watch it every year. Not just the final game. I watch the eliminations in the regionals, which feature a lot of teams who will never make the final few who play for the U.S. and International Championships and then pit the U.S. against the Internationals in the final game. It doesn't matter. It's the experience they get, and the experience we get from watching them.

The boys, this year anyway -- last year, Mo’ne Davis was the star of the series, becoming the first girl to pitch and win a game there -- range in age from 11-13 years old. They have braces on their teeth and the biggest, silvery smiles you’ve ever seen. Mo’ne became a star based on her talent for the game, her amazing personality and presence at such a young age. She won awards for her performance from many far distanced from Little League and wrote a memoir. At 12. (Tangent: it is odd to read a 12-year-old’s Wikipedia entry and see a section on her “early life.”)

I love the Little League game. Want to know why? Just watch the video above. Again.

I sit for hours watching games of teams from cities I’ve never heard of. The kids range in size from about 4 foot 7 and maybe 80 pounds to 5’8 and 180 pounds. Literally, they come in all sizes and colors from all over the world. The broadcasters are upbeat. You never hear a word nor see a player who is unsportsmanlike. The team managers come out to the mound after a pitcher has given up a ton of runs and say more positive things than some kids hear in a year. No yelling, all supportive and mindful of the fact these young kids are still developing who they will be. And this experience will play a big role in shaping who they'll be.

Is it all so positive? I don't know. I only know what I see on TV but  I’ll live in that unreality for a few hours a day and watch the pure joy not only of the kid who just hit that long home run, but the joy of the kid who threw the pitch that led to that boomer. That’s the video above. If you haven’t watched it yet—watch it. Or, watch it again. I’ll wait. I mean, how much fun is that?  

Japan won Sunday’s world championship.  Japan was down eight runs in the first inning in front of about 42,000 fans, 41,900 of whom were rooting against them, favoring their home state Pennsylvania team. I likely won’t remember who won after about a month. I will remember the look on pitcher Mekhi Garrard’s face as he admired Cole Wagner’s huge home run off a pitch Mekhi had just thrown. Doesn’t matter which teams they were on. I mean, watch that pitcher’s face.  

It gets no better than that.

Yesterday, I started writing another post focused on Donald Trump. And then true reality TV happened.

Two journalists were gunned down doing a morning live shot on TV. The two issues struck me – on the one hand, Donald Trump's campaign strategy seems to be making  stupid statements and being a “loser”, to borrow his favorite word about others, and two young journalists at the start of their careers and coupled life gunned down for no good reason.

Donald Trump seemed not important. And he isn’t. But he is leading the pack for the GOP presidential nomination and, while I still don’t believe he can win, he ought to be taken more seriously.

Those two journalists’ deaths are a tragedy, not a strong enough word. Trump this morning blamed it on mental health. He said the man was sick (I agree) and that those around the man should have noticed and done something. Guns don’t shoot people, people shoot people, was basically what he said. And “others” around the killer should have institutionalized him. Lordy, Donald – do you ever listen to yourself? Yes, he displayed disturbed behavior for years, according to the stories I’ve read, and, yes, he should have been getting help. Many of us need help – and many might say you, Donald, are close to the top of that list.

I do not mean to trivialize what happened in that small Virginia town yesterday by bringing Donald Trump into it – but what struck me was, what would the situation be if he were running the country? He’d feel badly, of course. He’d be compassionate. But he’d do nothing, based on his statements. He believes in the Second Amendment, he said, a signal to that lobby that he doesn’t want to change the gun laws. He believes it’s mental health is part of the solution, and it is – but he said it was “others” who should have done something to institutionalize the man. What would he do?

That, my friends, is the question that he needs to be pressed with on every issue. With all his ranting and raving – what would Donald do??

Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Nelson Mendela, Indira Gandhi, Sidney Poitier. What do all those people have in common? Class.

 Where has class gone? Is it dying because our politicians and celebrities are over-exposed? Is it dying because we are  so exposed these days that our faults are no longer hidden? Do we just know too much to accept anyone has class anymore? After all, there are cable TV channels and web sites for each of us: left wing, right wing; foodies, sports, hobbyist. We don’t have to be exposed to everything any more. We can subscribe to all the web sites or journals or whatever that tell us what we want to hear. Newspapers are dying a slow death; newspapers that, at least the good ones, gave us an unbiased view of the news so we could make up our own minds. A diverse range of opinion to educate and challenge.

Many of those news sources have been replaced with outlets that not only will tell you want you already know, but will raise money from you to be sure everyone else hears only what you believe. No more being exposed to various views. No more being exposed to various cultures or people – which helps teach us empathy which is one path to achieving class. Class isn’t manners or appearances. Class is doing the right thing. Class is not getting into the gutter just because the person you’re talking to is talking trash.

Our politicians have little class these days. They pander to a demographic that will elect them. And that’s all they play to. Whether you’re Ted Cruz on the right or Bernie Sanders on the left, you are not appealing to a broad base of Americans, you are appealing to a targeted few. Does anyone really believe that Ted Cruz or Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump will be elected president? No, because they are not appealing to enough of us.  

Class rises above. It takes the higher road to be sure all are being taken care of, that all are treated equally. Class doesn’t stoop to rhetoric that puts others down to build themselves up. Class doesn’t take a cheap shot at someone to grab a headline. Class doesn’t separate. Class builds bridges. Class recognizes that the other person can make a mistake and shouldn’t pay for that one mistake the rest of his or her life. Class treats others like they want to be treated.

I had a boss who taught us to always think about what the guy across the table was thinking, to put ourselves in his seat, so that we would not only know him better, but know how to deal with him better. To help him do the right thing, but also save face. The goal is to make life better for people, even that guy across the table. Class isn't you win, and they lose.

Can you imagine a question about class being asked at the next presidential debate? Try this one: Mr. Trump, those millions of legal and illegal immigrants you talk about, have you ever talked to one? Do you know what drives her? Do you know her goals?  Pains? Do you care?

Okay, that was more than one question, but you get the concept.

Maybe it’s that we walk the streets with our heads down, buried in our smart phones. This Era of Communication teaches us how to immediately be  connected but not to connect.  

Good leadership requires class. Good leadership demands empathy. Good leadership calls for putting yourself in the other person’s shoes to see the world through her eyes. Leadership isn’t about being the strongest or the loudest. It’s about being thoughtful when you need to be, and tough when you have to be.  

               In spite of this being one of the weirdest presidential races in a long time (i.e., Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders), it is also one of the more interesting. We have a runaway favorite candidate (i.e., Hillary Clinton) who is way ahead of the Democratic pack yet is already crippled by never-ending scandals (i.e., not her husband’s history but her own with email servers and classified information). Her named enemy (i.e., the vaunted Vast Right Wing Conspiracy) has had nothing to do with creating this scandal, other than leveraging it for all its worth. Her wounds are self-inflicted.

               You have Trump and Sanders tapping into, as the pundits say, the angry American demographic that hates prepared talking points and lack of spontaneity and likes a pinch of populism salting their candidates. And, in the background, you have the “normal, everyday guy” (i.e., Joe Biden) waiting in the wings. Biden is a true elder statesmen who many may disagree with politically, but everyone likes as a regular guy who commuted on the train to work when he was a U.S. senator from Delaware, a guy who has experienced the worst kinds of personal tragedies and survived them and succeeded in his career. He also has survived horrible political “scandal” (i.e., plagiarizing parts of a political speech years ago). And, he is quite spontaneous, his spontaneity often getting him in political hot water but you know where he stands.

               Biden is everything Hillary is not: He is likable. And as President Obama said of Hillary two campaigns ago, “you’re likable enough.” But, maybe she isn’t. Have you run into many Democrats who are joyfully supporting Hillary? I haven’t. They’ll vote for her, because their arms will fall off if they vote for a Republican, but as they pull the lever with their right hand, they'll be holding their noses with their left.

               Hillary also somehow has taken the joy out of being the odds-on favorite to be the first female president in history.

               Will Biden get in to the race? I don’t think so. I think after he deals with the fact that every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president, and deals with giving up what was a lifelong aspiration of his (forgoing making money and other things to be just an Honest Joe), Biden likely will decide that he’s in his 70s, he’s seen his first wife and young daughter killed in a car crash and, recently, his son, Beau pass away young. So, why not join a couple of boards and even more fully enjoy the family he clearly loves and knows can be taken away from him in a blink. Still, if he gets into the race, he has the character traits that polls show people think Hillary lacks -- likability, trustworthiness.

               Joe Biden is more than likable “enough.” I met him once. It was at a book party for a mutual friend in DC. Two things: 1) it was the same night that the President had nominated a chief justice to the Supreme Court. Biden, not one to avoid the cameras especially when the nominee would be before the Judiciary Committee that he chaired, was at the book party rather than in the Congress doing interviews. The author was a good friend, and he wouldn’t miss a good friend’s book party. 2) I was introduced to him that night as someone who’d recently suffered a stroke. Biden, who’d experienced brain trauma himself, spent about 15 minutes looking directly into my eyes as we discussed neurologists and brain issues. He clearly cared. He wasn't looking for the next hand to shake. I had his attention.

                He is more than likable enough.

               So, unless Biden surprises me and jumps in, Hillary has a pretty clear path to the nomination unless a legitimate alternative appears (i.e., Bernie isn’t it). And, my guess is, unless the Republicans nominate a Right Wing-nut -- and there are plenty in the field -- she will lose the general election (i.e., to someone who actually is likable).

               I didn’t spot any big winner from last night’s Republican debate, nor did I spot many losers. Well, okay, I think Sen. Rand Paul may have ended any serious run he may have had by only looking, well, ineffective and weak and Chris Christie made him appear not worthy of that stage.

               Jeb! Bush didn’t win or lose, which may be good enough for him. With his bankroll and Bush base of support (yes, there is one), he’ll have more opportunities to shine. As one pundit wrote, he was not THE adult in the room but he was one of the adults of the room – which maintains his positioning as a leader for the nomination. He did, though, not set himself apart. I’m not sure he has to at this stage in the race.

Donald Trump, for his part, hurt himself with his refusal to say he won’t run as an independent --all Republicans concede that would be the death knell for the eventual nominee (hello, Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan). Though he did begin to lay out, I think, his exit strategy: he said ruling out an independent run would blow his “leverage.” Leverage for what, I don’t know. No one is putting him on the ticket or in their Cabinet. Getting a speaking slot at the GOP convention certainly is a possibility – the ratings would soar that night. Though you never know what he’ll say, a down side.

               Ben Carson looks like a decent fellow and, clearly, to be redundant, one bright brain surgeon.  But leans on tithing as a way to set tax policy does not appear to be a winning strategy.

               Ohio Gov. John Kasich, playing to a home town crowd, did himself a lot of good and could win a spot on the ticket – certainly in someone’s Cabinet. He came across as what he is – smart, experienced, classy and adult. His answer on gay marriage was as good as it can get for someone who is trying to appeal to a pool of voters who don’t like gay marriage: He doesn’t believe in it but he respects gay men and women, would still love his daughters if it turns out one is a lesbian, and attended a gay friend’s wedding right after the Supreme Court ruling. Having it both ways? Yes, but I’m not sure his ambivalence on gay marriage is far off from a lot of people’s as folks sort through their feelings and evolve them.

               Trump was Trump, which is his campaign strategy. I think that strategy has a ceiling of support, which he has probably already hit, but that’s his strength – speaking for the angry demographic in the country. Perot had that following too. Not enough to win the presidency, but enough to stop someone else from winning it.

               Two other Debate Night thoughts:

1)      I only got to watch about 10 minutes of the pre-debate-debate. Holding it in an empty hall seemed to be adding insult to injury to those seeming also rans. And in those 10 minutes I heard only dodging of the questions asked. I’ll accept the pundits view that Carly Fiorina stood out – albeit a low bar among that crowd. Also, the moderators were not nearly as good as…

2)      The three who did the prime time debate. They kept it moving, were not bashful, sometimes seemed to be the protectors of the GOP orthodoxy (for me, not a role they should play) but they ran an effective debate with solid and direct questions. Folks may not like what Fox News stands for or Roger Ailes who runs it, but Mr. Ailes always knew how to be aggressive and his anchors showed that same trait.