HOW A PERSON WINS OR LOSES

 




“How a person wins or loses is much more important 

than how much a person wins or loses.”

Tom Krause


 

“Sir, is there a class today?” Mehul’s* mother asked me, half-an-hour before the class.

“Yes Ma’am, there is,” I replied, “In fact, they are expected to write a Test, today.”

“My son is glued to the T.V.,” the mother updated the position at home, “He is expecting India to win the Semi Finals.”

I was surprised to see Mehul in the class five minutes before the Test time… “What happened to the match?” I asked…

I was not following this World Cup series, and I didn’t even know, that it was the Semi Finals yesterday, and Pakistan team was already in Finals…

Mehul seemed visibly shattered… That’s when I guessed, that our team had lost…

Mehul is 17. I have been seeing this mega disappointment for years before Mehul was born… When India loses to Pakistan, it’s just not palatable… “How can we lose to Pakistan?” is the painful question… “It’s okay if we lose; but, Pakistan should not win.”… Does this reaction sound familiar?

Now that we have lost. Need I tell you, who we  will be rooting for in the Finals between England and Pakistan?

For a person like me, who doesn’t invest his all his emotions in a game like cricket, the frenzy seems silly. But, I, and many like me, invest all our emotions in some other events… and go bonkers similarly…

Last evening, when I saw my shattered student, I only let him hold a mirror to me: how I behave in my own victories and defeats…

Winning is great. But, then, as Robert Green Ingersoll said, “The greatest courage on Earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.”





Mehul, by the way, did well in his Test, last evening!


 *Name changed


GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic.: pixabay

 

Video: MAD LAB

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