The Pain of Losing

The Pain of Losing

I hope I am proven wrong: I think Liverpool will not finish fourth in the English Premier League and hence will not qualify for Champions League next season. It breaks my heart to see the team I've been supporting since I was a teenager losing again and again to lesser teams like Portsmouth and Southampton this season.

I haven't been watching much football since I came back to KL--mainly because my Astro subscription does not include the sports channels! Things at home are not exactly customized to my taste because I've been out of the country for the greater part of the last six years. Well, at least I'm spared the torment of watching Liverpool lose. Losing can be so painful.

How does one overcome the pain? I guess I'll have to follow my own advice: let time dissolve it. Sometimes it is more pleasurable for me to watch neutral teams play: one can concentrate on the beauty of the football without being emotionally involved.

From the number of entries that I have dedicated to the subject of pain and pleasure in my blog, it seems like I have some kind of morbid obssession with it. Pain and pleasure to me always come in equal proportions: The amount of pleasure you feel from something is proportional to the potential pain that you will experience in losing it.

Whenever we feel pleasure, we shouldn't be too carried away; and when pain does come, you comfort yourself by saying that it will surely pass. Singaporean leaders like to view the relationship between their country and Malaysia with the same philosophical attitude--and wisely so: There will always be ups and downs and one should not be over-euphoric whenever things look a bit sunny.

I have enjoyed greatly Liverpool's victories in the past. Now I am feeling the enormous pain of their loss.