Is Football a Small Version of the World?

Now going back to my original title, I feel the world is a small version of football to a certain extent (no doubt many would agree to disagree!). People spend their entire lives committed to work, to reaching the highest steps of the corporate ladder, to saving up for that flashy BMW, the 7 bedroom home and so on. But are these things the real value of a persons life? Or does this strike a certain amount of similarity to the football fan who is a lifelong fan of a certain football team, but in reality gets nothing in return. He gives himself away, sells himself. For what? Some people will say football produces role models, dreams, hope for children etc. but in reality how many of these youngsters achieve this dream? The numbers who fail massively outweighs those who succeed, so in fact it is creating more pain than pleasure. Ok it is necessary for one to have a home, a job and a means to pay the bills, but the truth is most of us in the western world have that, or have the opportunities to achieve a modest living. Footballers can be great, but there are many more, probably living with you that are far greater.

How many of us are REALLY upset when a family dies in a car crash, when a bomb goes off in Iraq, when a soldier dies in battle protecting the innocent? We think about it for a moment or two and then go back to our lives, our chase for something that in reality does no good. My point is that the media hype that surrounds football pulls the masses away from realisation, not just football, celebrity culture, music, fashion and various other mediums. They all leave us wanting, yearning and desiring everything else but our own lives. It makes us weak, breaks us down and makes us bow down to everything around us. Instead of being humble and modest. We moan when our team loses, when we put on a little weight, when our car breaks down, when we feel ugly. Maybe we should think of the child in Africa who has to walk 4 miles in the blazing heat everyday to get clean water for his dying mother. The fishermen from Bangladesh whose rivers are drying up everyday. The handicapped child who can’t run with the other children. The blind mother who does not even know what her 5 year old child looks like. 

I guess the wider picture I’m trying to look at is finding the positives and not focus on the negatives. Sometimes we need our spirits to be broken so our souls can be free. Sometimes our hearts are broken so they can be whole. Sometimes we should allow pain so we can become strong. Sometimes we should accept failure so we may be humble. Sometime we should allow an illness so we can take better care of ourselves. And sometimes, just sometimes, when we lose everything we should understand the value of what we had.