Are the T&T Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket stars simply greedy and unpatriotic?
Would any of those who have turned their wrath on the IPL players make the decision that we seem to be forcing the players to make?
Who says it is a club versus country issue?
Are there deeper considerations?
What would we do if placed in a similar situation?
Those of us who only experience elite sport from the outside may have different values and beliefs but for someone whose life and ambitions have been built around striving for excellence in professional and world class elite sport-values and values formation will be in a different order of importance.
It takes talent, commitment, sacrifice and passion, love of sport, hours of practice, above normal mental and emotional strength to compete and be successful at the highest level of sport.
Do people appreciate that sportsmen and women endure their own dark nights when injury or selection deny them the chance to compete. That they owe it to themselves— being a professional athlete is not easy.
You become your sport. It consumes every aspect of your life and your career may last only ten years at most if you are lucky.
Anthony Robbins concurred with the notion that human beings are what they believe when he said in his book ‘Unlimited Power’, beliefs are the commanders to the brain.
Many experts on the subject of human potential have stated that our values are our belief systems about right, wrong, good, and bad. Values reflect what are important to each and every one of us.
Values govern our lifestyles. They determine how you will respond to every experience in life.
The impact of your values is endless and timeless. They define how we respond to situations.
Without an understanding of our values and that of those we interact, lead, manage or work and play with, it is difficult to understand not only our own behaviour but that of others.
Our values may change depending on different influences.
Much of the conflict that countries, organisations and human beings have in life is a result of conflicting values.
All of us have certain values that are more important to us, above anything else.
Unless you know what people value and the importance they place on those values.
We are quick to judge and make pronouncements on what is right or wrong.
To relate effectively to people, we need to know what’s most important to them. It is almost impossible to understand people’s basic behaviour or motivations unless you appreciate the importance of their values.
Many of us have never taken the time to question and confront our own values and the conflicts and contradictions that those values present.
It’s not a matter of right or wrong or about imposing your own values on other people.
It’s important to learn what your values are so you will be able to be at peace with yourself first before you can be at peace with others.
Unless you can address your own values and their conflicts, it is will hamper how you relate to people, lead, manage or mentor them.
We all have a supreme value, the one thing we want most of all in life, in our relationships, work, friends, family, and sport.
There is that one thing that drives us all. Ideas of values may be so different that people who think they have common values may have nothing in common.
When one holds positional authority or leadership it is a deep injustice to the integrity, dignity complexity and profound nature of human interaction to approach conflicts from such a simplistic manner as right and wrong unless you have a hidden agenda and a desired outcome already in mind.
By Brian Lewis
Source: www.guardian.co.tt