I imagine life to be like the Olympic Games.
In the Olympic games you have individuals and teams from different countries competing in various disciplines for glory – for themselves and for their nations.
The teams have players, the games have referees, administrators, coaches, waterboys, spectators and so on. Some sports people compete in individual events, others in team sports – in whatever they are best at.
Chess is an Olympic sport, just like soccer, boxing, badminton, discus, dash, steeplechase – you get the picture.
Our country has been competing in the games for a long time, however we come from a country where some people were previously given an unfair advantage – taking positions as coaches, administrators and competitors in the various games, whilst other people were relegated to the side-lines and menial jobs – like carrying water, sand or oranges onto the field for the 'real' players and coaches.
This wasn’t a good thing. Some of our most promising talent was relegated to the side of the field, looking on while their fellow countrymen competed in the games, coached teams, administered games and so forth.
Things changed however, and the administrators and coaches were changed out to be more representative of our country’s population as a whole.
The side-liners were very excited at the prospect of finally being able to participate in the games – with all their hopes and dreams pinned on this. We are all human, we all dream of glory – a spot on the podium, to score a medal – bronze, silver, gold even.
However, some time has passed now, and not everyone’s made it to the podium – many haven’t even been on the field. In some events, our countries rankings have slipped, and we are starting to feel the pressure. The medals aren't coming anymore. We all want to know why this is, and we all have our theories.
The old players, who are still in the game (collecting gold medals), blame the new players and administrators – saying they are not up to standard – they simply are not good enough to cut it in the world of the Olympics.
Some of the new potential players don’t even make it onto the field – they are still on the sidelines, and they are getting impatient. They are starting to throw bottles and rubbish onto the field, starting fights - disrupting events.
We start digging to find out what is going on..
We find that somehow, in some places, training equipment hadn’t made it down to the new players (balls, nets, bars, boots and so forth).
So the new candidates are not managing to make the grade – they are not getting any practice –some of them cannot get the ball into the net, they cannot get over the bar. Thus, the training facilities are not managing to produce sports stars at the rate that is required by the administrators.
Some of the old players and their children now blame these new guys – saying they are useless. This is degrading and unfair – and the new guys are starting to feel resentment, wouldn't you?
To remedy the situation, the new coaches decided to make the nets a little bigger, to lower the bar somewhat, because then the new players can get over (the bar) or in (the net), that way they produce sportsmen and woman in greater quantities – meeting the quotas required by the administrators.
We dig some more..
We also find, that the referees started participating in the game also – so whilst the players are accusing each other of not passing the ball, we realise that half the time the ball isn't even on the field.
Some of the referees had put up a third set of nets on the side of the field, started a whole different scoreboard - and are busy scoring goals and awarding medals there.
The players on the field (old and new), and those sitting on the side-lines - wanting a go - are getting more and more angry.
They continue to blame each other. When the referees and administrators are asked about this – they blame the old players and the old administrators – saying what we've got here is a legacy of the previous dispensation.
Some of them are even saying that if you want to be a sports-star, what needs to happen is to take all the medals that the previous ‘stars’ acquired (illegally), and melt them down, and distribute the metal amongst the side-liners – because what you want is a piece of gold hanging around your neck (rather than excelling at a particular event).
From every individual myopic viewpoint, each individual has a point and is correct. However, the country as a whole is not getting on the podium as often as we want to, the medals are becoming more and more scarce, people are starting to go hungry.
Who are you? Are you the old coach, the new player, the old administrator? Who's interests are you looking after? What are you going to do next? Are you going to do what everyone else in your position is doing? Point the finger in the other direction? Because you know.. you are right..
Peace, love and light to you all.
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