The World Cup Fever and Life’s Ironies and Lessons

   “Massacre! Germany cuts Brazil to pieces to advance to World  Cup Finals.” Catchy Title, Painful Words. That’s how i see it when i got  hold of a local daily featuring the World Cup Event blow by blow.

Now of  course it’s all over the net what happened at the World Cup  semi-finals. Brazil being crushed at their home turf and worst of all  seeing their bitter rival Argentina reaching the finals. Netherlands being  defeated by Argentina (thanks to Argentina’s goalkeeper Sergio  Romero who was once groomed and trained by Netherland’s coach  Louis Van Gaal (How Ironic!). “Penalties are always a matter of luck,  and I taught Romero how to stop penalties so that hurts,” uttered by  Netherland’s coach Van Gaal. Life is really full of ironies, No way would he ever imagine that someday his protege would crush his own dream.

And yes, it hurts, one can see the pain not only on the players and  coaches but  also on the spectators, watching and rooting for their teams, their country. You watch the World Cup and you can see tempers rising, emotions surging to a feverish squeal. No wonder it’s called Fever, World Cup Fever.

This brings me to the following question: Why is it so painful to lose? Well, different reasons for different people. Hard Work and Expectations. When you work so hard for something and you didn’t achieve what you want, it wounds you. When something you expected or wish never happened it kills you.

But just like all things that happened in the past, after that gloomy day, you learned to move on. Time heals all wounds they say. When the pain subsides, you learned to leave the past behind.

Just like the World Cup teams, come four years later, they’ll fight again and no matter what happened in the past, they’ll keep on fighting.

Galileo once said that the world is round, yes life defines the shape of the world … sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down but as long as you keep kicking, keep that ball rolling, keep going for that goal no matter how many penalties life throws at you (for the mistakes you’ve made) , you can still get that Cup, with or without fever! –  By  Joel F.

 

Copyright © 2014 Joys of Joel by Joel F.  All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

The Dutch Treat

The Dutch Treat – https://joysofjoel.wordpress.com/

Poffertjes, windmills, dutch clogs, tulips, what comes to mind when you hear these things?  Holland.

I remember having lunch with friends when one of them says “just order what you want, we’re going dutch anyway, ” to which i immediately reply “what?”  My female friend  came to my rescue when she said “Dutch Treat” then she followed it up by explaining it means “splitting the cost”  or in simple words “we’ll all pay the bill accordingly” which is so ironic : how can it be a treat if you pay your own bill anyway? And since when did it become a dutch trait that it was coined after a certain race, don’t we all pay our own bills when we eat out regardless of our nationality?

My friend suddenly give me this “what’s your problem kind of stare”, she advised me not to make simple things complicated, “Hey, we’re here to savor the cuisine and not to debate” ….yes , she’s right i can google  the origin of an idiom  anytime but for the meantime,  enjoy the meal and save my smart alecky attitude later.

Just because i’m munching my poffertjes doesn’t mean i can’t think,  besides i was never in a confrontational mood that time, i was just trying to do an ice breaker because the group didn’t have an interesting topic after a long hike. All they come up  is how we will all look good in our photos, narcissism at its peak.

Oh and by the way, my friend Mike said “if you’re wondering why it’s called a dutch treat when in fact it’s not an exclusive dutch trait, how about french fries,  do you think french when you hear that? To which Samantha answered “Well, fries originally started from a french province….blah blah” , she was cut off by mike and there you go, the long rebuttal has started even before our appetizer was served!  Mike ended up paying the bill and that even made our next meal more appetizing. Thanks to my ice breaker.

 

Kindly Click This and Read The Thai That Binds. Thanks.

 

Copyright © 2014 Joys of Joel by Joel F. All Rights Reserved.