Day 25 WorldCup2018
"Out of all the unimportant things, football is the most important." I had seen this quote previously attributed to Arrigo Sacchi, former manager of Milan and Italy. But it seems like it was Pope John Paul II who said it first.
It popped into my head again today, as I caught my breath after another two days of acute cardio-vascular-event inducing World Cup football. As the remaining four teams rest, and train, and I rested from trying to put into words the emotions generated by daily excitement, I had the recurring thought of how insignificant what I do is in the grand scope of the world, or how what 22 players do on a football pitch compares to what other professionals in their fields do.
But there is so much that goes on out there that can be deemed insignificant. What is somebody's joy, is another person's perfect example of boredom. Someone's masterpiece is another's ugliness. An artist paints a picture, a poet or a musician toils over lyrics and verses, actors learn their lines. Footballers try to score the perfect goal. Art lovers go to galleries and swoon over the artist's work, concert goers feel the passion of their idol's music, people flock to cinemas to watch the latest work of Hollywood fiction and fanatical fans live by their football team's ups and downs. Is anything more important than the other? Could we easily substitute "football" with "art" or "music" or "acting" into John Paul II's quote? The fans of each probably would say yes.
But how important are they really? Football may be the most popular sport around the world, the World Cup may bring communities together for a month (it does in Toronto) but what effect does it have on politicians' misguided, self-centred opinions, or on people in Syria living in fear? What does it do for stateless refugees in the Middle East, or starving refugees across Africa? Next to nothing.
And on a smaller scale what does football, or any of the above practices do for individuals wishing to live their best possible life, to get a good education, to have access to pathways to follow their dreams, to fall in love and be persecuted for who they fall in love with.
There is a lot more that is more important than football and the events of the past 24 days. But we have to be allowed our distractions. The joy I, and millions across the world, feel at watching this World Cup is not selfish, or ignorant. It is just the most important of all the unimportant things in or lives.
So I may wrestle with the insignificance of what I do everyday, but I have come to a happy realization that I read and see a lot everyday that can be judged to be of equal minuscule value in the world, but the person or people who perform whatever it is they are very good at, or believe they are very good at, are hopefully having as much fun as I am.
And I cannot end these rest day reflections without mentioning what may have been a subconscious inspiration for all this: the happiness that those four boys were rescued from the Thai cave today, and the hope that the remaining 9 will be out soon.
"Out of all the unimportant things, football is the most important." I had seen this quote previously attributed to Arrigo Sacchi, former manager of Milan and Italy. But it seems like it was Pope John Paul II who said it first.
It popped into my head again today, as I caught my breath after another two days of acute cardio-vascular-event inducing World Cup football. As the remaining four teams rest, and train, and I rested from trying to put into words the emotions generated by daily excitement, I had the recurring thought of how insignificant what I do is in the grand scope of the world, or how what 22 players do on a football pitch compares to what other professionals in their fields do.
But there is so much that goes on out there that can be deemed insignificant. What is somebody's joy, is another person's perfect example of boredom. Someone's masterpiece is another's ugliness. An artist paints a picture, a poet or a musician toils over lyrics and verses, actors learn their lines. Footballers try to score the perfect goal. Art lovers go to galleries and swoon over the artist's work, concert goers feel the passion of their idol's music, people flock to cinemas to watch the latest work of Hollywood fiction and fanatical fans live by their football team's ups and downs. Is anything more important than the other? Could we easily substitute "football" with "art" or "music" or "acting" into John Paul II's quote? The fans of each probably would say yes.
But how important are they really? Football may be the most popular sport around the world, the World Cup may bring communities together for a month (it does in Toronto) but what effect does it have on politicians' misguided, self-centred opinions, or on people in Syria living in fear? What does it do for stateless refugees in the Middle East, or starving refugees across Africa? Next to nothing.
And on a smaller scale what does football, or any of the above practices do for individuals wishing to live their best possible life, to get a good education, to have access to pathways to follow their dreams, to fall in love and be persecuted for who they fall in love with.
There is a lot more that is more important than football and the events of the past 24 days. But we have to be allowed our distractions. The joy I, and millions across the world, feel at watching this World Cup is not selfish, or ignorant. It is just the most important of all the unimportant things in or lives.
So I may wrestle with the insignificance of what I do everyday, but I have come to a happy realization that I read and see a lot everyday that can be judged to be of equal minuscule value in the world, but the person or people who perform whatever it is they are very good at, or believe they are very good at, are hopefully having as much fun as I am.
And I cannot end these rest day reflections without mentioning what may have been a subconscious inspiration for all this: the happiness that those four boys were rescued from the Thai cave today, and the hope that the remaining 9 will be out soon.
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