Society

MY MESSAGE TO THE BRAZILIAN PEOPLE

A big defeat is not enjoyable and I sympathize that it makes you feel bad. However, the way one thinks and reacts to defeat can make or break him /her. History is full of examples of people and nations who have taken blows of various kinds of big defeats ; wars, invasion by foreign powers, defeat in sports, broken hearts in love etc. Some reacted by blaming themselves and feeling humiliated and as a result of this negative thinking never pulled through. Others got into a solution mode and took a hard look at themselves and asked ; why did this catastrophe occur ? What were my / our weak points ? What can I / we do to improve my/ our weak points and succeed next time ? Then they set goals and implemented an action plan to achieve them. This is how Japan, Germany and many European nations got back on their feet and became prosperous after being devastated in the 2nd World War. This is how many nations won wars of independence in history.This is how some people who have been seriously hurt by a break up in a love affair recover. This is also valid for major defeats in soccer or any other sports. It is a matter of how you think and act after or during a crisis or catastrophe, it can make or break you. The choice is yours.

After the understandable period of grief is over use this unfortunate event as an opportunity to derive lessons, apply the lessons and become even better than before. Analyze your weaknesses but don’t blame yourselves nor one another.What you believe in becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. If you think you are no good and will never get good again these thoughts will become your destiny. If you think you can recover and get much better than before that is what will happen for you. “ Watch your thoughts, they could become your words. Watch your words they could become your actions. Watch your actions they could become your habits. Watch your habits they could become your destiny” ( Lao Tse : Chinese philosopher in history). Also disregard anybody who makes fun of, humiliates or insults you as a nation because of your defeat in soccer against Germany in the World Cup of Protected content . Have faith in yourselves. You have made great achievements before and you can do them again. You can if you think you can !

Rasih Bensan

July 9th Protected content