A itt e be ief goes a ong ay
With some faith and full support, anyone with the odds against them can rise and shine, even our athletes.
IT was heartbreaking to watch the Thomas Cup semi-finals when Malaysia took on Denmark and failed to make it to the final, despite taking a 2-0 lead.
Denmark went on to lift the cup by beating Indonesia, becoming the first non-Asian team to win the tournament since it began in 1948.
It must have been even more heartbreaking for Morten Frost Hansen, who could not be part of this historic team even as a coach, because he is currently attached to the Badminton Association of Malaysia as its technical director.
The English Premier League has also ended and everyone is still talking about how Leicester, a 5,000/1 rank outsider at the start of the season, is the newly-crowned champion.
I bring up these two examples to illustrate the point that we all love the champions. “No one remembers who came in second”, is a popular saying. And we can forget about the underdogs.
It is not only in sports but in various aspects of life that our attention is focused on those who have already made it to the top. In the process, we miss out on a bigger pool of talent that could have been harnessed to their full potential.
We have all read about people who were written off by their superiors, only to prove everyone wrong by becoming successes in spectacular ways.
Some examples: Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star in 1919 because, his editor said, he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”
After a performance at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, Elvis Presley was told by the concert hall manager that he was better off returning to Memphis and driving trucks (his former career).
Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and started a business with Paul Allen called Traf-O-Data, which flopped. Luckily, they tried their hand at business again and this time Microsoft was born.
My point is there are unpolished gems in our midst and we should consider what we can do to recognise them and make them shine.
Although Lee Chong Wei won all his matches at the Thomas Cup tournament, it was not enough to see Malaysia through. His next mission is to triumph at the Rio Olympics.
The Malaysian dream of striking gold is a burden that rests heavy on his shoulders. And we wish him well.
At the same time, I also feel we must not ignore the fact that other Malaysian athletes who have qualified on their own merit in diving, cycling, shooting, swimming, archery and sailing may yet spring a surprise.
Let us not think they are just there to make up the numbers. Let us believe they can win.
It would be great if we can finally strike gold in Rio, and all the more so if the sport that brings home the elusive gold medal is a less high profile one.
Perhaps if we have a little more faith in our athletes and lend them our full support, those with the odds stacked against them will rise and shine. Just like Leceister and Denmark.
On a personal note, there are some things about me that my doctors feel cannot be fixed. They have their reasons.
But I continue to believe that nothing is impossible with God. In the words of Norman Runnion, my editor at the Brattleboro Reformer in Vermont where I did an internship on a press fellowship back in 1987, “Keep the faith!”