The Search For Enlightenment

So Euro 2012 is finally here and tonight’s games have lived up to all the hype and expectations. With the co-hosts Poland drawing 1-1 with Greece, I imagine the Poles are feeling a little down, letting a one goal and one man advantage slip in the second half.

Russia, on the other hand, must be buzzing, having beaten the Czech Republic 4-1. With more fancied teams playing over the next few days there will be winners and losers, but if the matches live up to the openers, football will be the real winner. But even the teams that come out of their opening games as losers can take heart if they look at the results in a slightly different way.

Daisaku Ikeda had this to say:

“Strength is Happiness. Strength is itself victory. In weakness and cowardice there is no happiness. When you wage a struggle, you might win or you might lose. But regardless of the short-term outcome, the very fact of your continuing to struggle is proof of your victory as a human being.”

Going home with the shiny prize isn’t the only way you can win, again President Ikeda has pearls of Wisdom …

“It is not how you compare to others that is important, but rather how you compare to who you were yesterday. If you’ve advanced even one step, then you’ve achieved something great.”

So whatever kind of opening game your team has, you can look at things in several ways, and still come out of it as a winner.