Cricketers constantly bear criticism for their poor performance or for being out of form.Indians have this mentality where they cite emotions and superstitions as causes for the occurrence of events.Well for certain events like a death of a family member or when a person faces a series of unfortunate events, which were just occurrences for which no one could be blamed responsible attaching superstitions to resonate their occurrences does make some sense.But when it comes to sports,especially when we cite it in the context of games we must remember that 'a game is a game' and every game will have a 'winner' and a 'loser' and being on the winning or the losing side of a game is like a 'head or tail' of a coin.Nobody is a permanent 'winner' or a permanent 'loser' of a game.
In Western countries like New Zealand,Australia,England,Ireland etc they cite 'rationalist causes' as occurrences for any event.Rationalists are widely criticized in Eastern countries where more importance is attached to feelings,and facing the 'bitter truth' according to them does not give a person any hope or a positive feeling.From a neutral perspective however,the 'rationalist' approach should be applied in areas where work and profession is concerned and where social relationships assume a lesser importance while the 'emotional' approach should be adopted in areas where social networks and relationships assume the highest importance.
Coming back to what I was talking about,for a sports' spectator the sport is not his profession.He is merely a person who enjoys the game and he has his own views about it. However,his views should not go to depths where the entire society is affected.Already,athletes are people who are under severe external pressure from a multitude of directions ranging from their family members to their team mates to their country men and internal pressure which stems from 'the self'.For example:when India lost to Australia in the world cup semifinal this year,the loss was over analysed and was looked at in a very negative way and labels such as 'lazy','laid back','casual' etc were attached to the players.While when New Zealand were on a winning streak throughout the world cup and they lost to Australia in the most crucial match of the tournament,which was the world cup final instead of criticizing the players and overly analyzing the loss,they were given a grand welcome from the airport to the five star hotel where they were honored and they were well appreciated for the effort they put it on the field to add to the country's pride and the role they played to encourage sports activities in the country.
The Indian fans will be able to understand the pressure the sportsmen are under only if they step into the sportsman's shoes,which is indeed a life skill of empathy.This is not just limited to the sports arena,but is a universal principle which applies to all the spheres of life
In Western countries like New Zealand,Australia,England,Ireland etc they cite 'rationalist causes' as occurrences for any event.Rationalists are widely criticized in Eastern countries where more importance is attached to feelings,and facing the 'bitter truth' according to them does not give a person any hope or a positive feeling.From a neutral perspective however,the 'rationalist' approach should be applied in areas where work and profession is concerned and where social relationships assume a lesser importance while the 'emotional' approach should be adopted in areas where social networks and relationships assume the highest importance.
Coming back to what I was talking about,for a sports' spectator the sport is not his profession.He is merely a person who enjoys the game and he has his own views about it. However,his views should not go to depths where the entire society is affected.Already,athletes are people who are under severe external pressure from a multitude of directions ranging from their family members to their team mates to their country men and internal pressure which stems from 'the self'.For example:when India lost to Australia in the world cup semifinal this year,the loss was over analysed and was looked at in a very negative way and labels such as 'lazy','laid back','casual' etc were attached to the players.While when New Zealand were on a winning streak throughout the world cup and they lost to Australia in the most crucial match of the tournament,which was the world cup final instead of criticizing the players and overly analyzing the loss,they were given a grand welcome from the airport to the five star hotel where they were honored and they were well appreciated for the effort they put it on the field to add to the country's pride and the role they played to encourage sports activities in the country.
The Indian fans will be able to understand the pressure the sportsmen are under only if they step into the sportsman's shoes,which is indeed a life skill of empathy.This is not just limited to the sports arena,but is a universal principle which applies to all the spheres of life
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