Tolerance - The game = Life

[bruce carlyon <Bruce_Carlyon@syncsoft.com.au>]

To all,

I just wanted to pass on a quick experience to step away from recent US
events.
In Melbourne, Australia, it is finals time, and my team (Essenson) is lucky
enough to have qualified for the Grand Final next week in Australian Rules
Football; for UK & USA members, you might get it on pay TV.
Today's game I went to as one of the 87,468 people who attended.  If you do;
watch it, it is going to be brutal.
For supporters, we have completely mixed seating, so all supporters sit
among each other.
No separation, no segregation of fans, it is just not the Australian way.
As passionate as we are about our team, and it gets tribal, when the final
siren sounds, we leave the stadium together.
We get public transport together, we all begin to hope for the coming game,
next week, next year.
The battle is over, win or lose.  Exhausted, there are no scores to settle,
no grudges to hold.  Some felt lucky, others robbed; but that is the nature
of the game.
Our oponents are supported by my wife, our relatives, my work colleauges
etc.
Thankgod my children have chosen wisely!  This great game.
Today, I happen to get a train that went through the suburbs of the opposing
team.
I wore my team scarf, others also wore our team jumpers, we sit among the
other supporters in their scarfs and jumpers, flags and painted faces.
Nothing tension, a pleasant journey in and out.  Everyone is a little tense
about how our team will go tody.  But conversation goes on freely, no one
cares who wears what team's jumper.  It is never a problem, nothing unusual
about this.
We all think about the 'The Game' ahead.  The MCG stadium is packed and the
game has its ups and downs.
I watched the game with supporters of both sides; children aged 4 and up,
with pensioners with great passion and fragile bodies.  The game, the game.
We anticipate it all week, we go to it and live or die on our team's success
or otherwise.
But then we look to next week.  With eternal hope, we and the opponent go
through the same stir crazy cycle each week all year.  But, 87,468 people
can converge to a place with different and passionate views; and bring the
children and the aged.
My heros got injured, we were almost overun, but in the end we prevailed.
Yell and scream all day, and walk with and chat to our opponents in the
train, after 'The Game'.

If only life were more like this?
Life is the game; we only get to play it once;
so lets play nice.  It makes for a better life.

Regards
Bruce Carlyon
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