Yes, many would say it was the same old story. Again the England soccer team failed to deliver what’s expected of it, playing like the national team of a country which has done and is doing so much for world football. Lackluster; that’s the term that best describes them in their game with the Denmark elven. But, who do I think I am to criticize when that nations have all those pundits many times trying to cut each other’s throats out over the airwaves. But there’s one very important factor that comes out of this game.
The English despite their mostly poor performance and trailing by one goal did the unexpected as the referee was getting ready to blow the final whistle. They scared the equalizer! Were they happy? What kind of question is that! Of course they were happy. They were so happy if you haven’t seen the game and suddenly stumbled when they were rejoicing you’d be pardoned to think they must have won some championship. Would the Euro 2024 cup be on the flight to London? No comment. (It was so sudden you could see the hurt of the Danes who already must have decided three points were theirs and I really feel sorry for them.)
So what’s all this fuss about a last minute goal! Well it reminds me of that great saying, “It isn’t over until it’s over.” Isn’t it because we many times forget about this saying that we turn back in the ‘middle’ of the not very deep river just because the push is a little harder; what about the other option of trying to hold on to the log a couple of meters away. You’ve completed four-fifth of your way and you don’t gather the energy to finish the remaining one-fifth which would have come as a game changer in your life. The advice gurus would tell to continue on our way even if it means going on our all fours because, “It isn’t over until it’s over.”
Many of us, forgetting this timeless fact, have given up on our efforts much too early; thrown in the towel too fast while we still have the energy to go a couple of rounds more; thrown up our hands in defeat at the blink of an eye as if our D-Day has arrived while in truth a little more commitment and persistence could have seen us across the hurdle we thought we’d never cross. (Now it’s me sounding like some advice guru, am I not?)
These days it seems many of us are highly skeptical of almost every other thing and choose to stay at the end of the line having lost all our energy of going against the little waves that may confront us along the way.
I’ll tell you a story. There was this guy who studied accounting and one of the best in his job. His colleagues at the work place talked of him as he was a genius the Nobel Prize people have yet to discover. He never skips work and was never late. Now this becomes a little confusing and hard to believe when you hear the other side of his story. He drinks! Well that’s an understatement taking how dug in he’s in this hap bit. In life he seems to be familiar with only three places; his office, his watering halls (In fact he’s regular of only one them!) and his bedroom when he finally calls it a day. He always drinks the real hard stuff and you’d think he was fade up with life and was seeking the shortest and quickest way to the other world. One thing that puts off his colleagues and bosses is how he carries himself. He is not only badly dressed but terribly dressed! His colleagues since they respected him because of his impeccable work couldn’t gather the confidence to tell him he should dress better. They feared he’d take their advice as an offense and turn his back on them.
His bosses meanwhile didn’t hold back as did his colleagues. Initially they were soft and nice-sounding verbal advices. That failed to change things. Then he was officially given verbal warning with the written warning coming not long after. Now as I told you being a very gifted professional especially he got the warning letter the normally reserved fellow goes ballistic. He confronts his bosses saying that he didn’t break any rule of the office and being demanded for the letter to be withdrawn. They didn’t take back the letter but tried to play it cool and nice. He didn’t fall for that. By some visible and invisible pressures, the management decided to let him go and he got wind of the news before the ax falls. He resigns.
Now sometimes your reputation outruns you by miles. His name has been circulating both in the form of admiration and also in the form of mild denunciation. Getting another job became a real torment. In the places he applied he was treated with the brightest of smiles and all the romantic-sounding beautiful language but still no one was ready to take him in. Even in places he knew there indeed were open vacancies for accountants they told him they were not hiring because all positions were filled.
His anger slowly turns into frustration and then hopelessness and he was edging very close to the edge. Then something, no one really knew happens. He started talking about the perils of alcoholism. He started berating himself and others for guzzling very form of liquid that came their way. There was a universal feeling of confusion and helplessness. Him being the trine of the guy who doesn’t mix much they couldn’t paste his change of behavior to the advice of some particular person. Single and living by himself there was no better half or relative in the house who could make any impression on him.
Then suddenly he stopped being seen on the watering halls. At first there was fear that he might have done something bad for himself. A die-hard alcoholic like him truing his back on the bottle that easily and with absolutely no fanfare was a riddle still unsolved. Finally he landed a job with an international organization and the rest, as they say, is history.
The last I heard about him he worked in a Southern Africa country branch of his employers’ organization.
Yes, and to all of us quitters out there it would be therapeutic to remember the saying, “It isn’t over, until it’s over!”
The Ethiopian Herald June 23/2024