Influence

And so Portugal flopped in the first game.
Credit to Greece though,
They played pretty compact and solid football.
Spain was impressive,
Very impressive i would say.
The way Portugal was built up by the media to be favourites,
Obviously heightened expectations of them.
And suddenly,
Over the past two weeks,
They became, in people's minds,
A worldclass team,
Capable of beating any team.
However,
The ability of that team hasnt changed a single bit over the 2 weeks,
It's juz how we have gotten influenced by so-called experts and pundits,
That Portugal is actually a worldclass team.
I dont have any grudges against them though,
Even though they made me lost big $ on them in the last world cup.
It's juz that,
I'm amazed by how succeptible we are to being influenced by what we read, hear and infer.
Seriously,
I'm a lil' bothered by these subliminal and conscious influences,
As i'm a betting man.
Like a pendulum i swing,
With different reports on teams and matches.
That is why i'm refraining from betting on the opening games,
So that i can better judge,
On my own account and verdict,
On which teams to stake on.
Rather than rely on others,
Trust yourself.
'Success has many relatives, but failure is an orphan.'
I think when one fails,
He usually will be left alone to pick himself up.
Sometimes we dont know when that failure would come.
Other times,
We expect to fail,
And thus refrain from attempting certain actions.
It's easy to say that one shouldnt be afraid to fail,
But it's like saying: No one would judge you if you should fail.
Wrong!
Obviously,
We are gonna be judged by others,
Whether we succeed or fail.
And most of the times,
It's a fear of these unsavoury judgments that we try not to fail,
Or not try at all.
I always believed in the means more than the ends,
Which means,
The process of doing something is more important than the end product itself.
This is open for debate,
And i do see the other side of the coin.
In the end, results matter,
But if we choose to view things in a long-term perspective,
I would say that the process of learning is far more superior than achieving certain objectives at a given time period.
But since we are all 'free' people,
We are liable to have differing viewpoints.
But we are also 'gracious' people,
So we can accomodate to others' idiosyncrasies.
If this is the case,
Then why are there still bloody bigots irritating the hell out of me?
Maybe i should try seeing things from their oh-so-narrow perspectives,
But that would mean i would have difficulty breathing.
Oh well,
They have their rights i guess.
But i juz wanna say: their bloody rights end where mine begins.