It Is Only Us
Last month I was giving a chat, so I decided to explain why I was so excited about the football world cup. It seems that my message touched the heart of more than one person, so I was asked to put my explanation in writing. Here it is in my September thoughts news letter:-)When I was young I used to enjoy football a lot. I was driven by the excitement of the game and used to shout in the stadium and dance after the game if my team won. All the traditional things....
Time passed, I lost interest in football and joined the people who could never understand what the excitement was about. But this year, after so many, my mother country Colombia qualified for the world cup. A good friend, who lives in England, organized a giant screen in her house to watch the first game with the small Colombian community in the area. There we were, with our faces painted, wearing our yellow t-shirts and with our flags, it was a party, it will be fun!!!
That night I rediscovered why football was so important for me and why it could be so important for so many people. While we were watching the game it was not them and us, it was only US. When someone kicked one of our players, they did not kick him, they kicked US! When the goal keeper stopped a goal it was not him, it was US! When James made a goal, it was not him it was US! When they won, is was US who won! When they lost it was US who lost! And when I celebrate or grieve with the people around me, it did not matter if I knew them or not because WE were sharing the same feelings, because it was not their or my grief or achievement, it was OUR grief or OUR achievement.
That night, I could see that the game has been taking us to remember that we are not alone, that we were the same: all Colombians!!! But what was really important was recognising how fundamental it is for a living thing (person or animal) be part of a group. WE CAN NOT SURVIVE ALONE, we are all interconnected and when we come back to that state (even only for a minute) of communication, we recognise who we really are and we are complete.
So, I was thinking, what if we join the “Human being team”? What if we start to live our lives being part of the human being team? No more separation, no more "They are hungry", if they are hungry and I am part of the team I am hungry with them too. If they are successful I rejoice in their success because it is my success too. If they are violent I share the responsibility of those feelings because it is my anger too. It is not them and me any more, it is only US, only US! and when we live our lives in this way, we will be able to recognise who we really are and there will be peace and prosperity for everyone on the planet. This is the reason I love football. It reminds me WE ARE ALL PART OF THE SAME TEAM: HUMAN BEINGS and it is VERY EXCITING AND POWERFUL. BE PART OF THE TEAM
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