Asha Iyer Kumar :
Remember that poignant Messi Moment in the World Cup finals, when the world paused in anticipation of a magician’s last minute trick of turning a free kick into a euphoric clincher?
Those must have been the longest moments in the champion’s life, not just because they separated his team from the ultimate glory, but also because they were moments of huge expectations; they were elephantine moments that bore down on his reputation; moments that laid bare the inner most fears and challenges of a champion par excellence. Those must have been the scariest moments of his sporting life.
Success isn’t a one-time affair of making it big. To be a flash in the pan takes only a stroke of luck, but what makes winning durable is continued performance marked by quality and consistency. How easily I stated that aphorism! How simple I made it sound with a few blasé expressions!
To be consistently impressive is the greatest challenge of excellence, and make no mistake, maintaining standards that will meet the unrelenting expectations of the world is the greatest agony of a winner. The class that he displays partly by dint of his talent and partly by endeavour is his own nemesis. And in a world that accepts nothing short of the best, and where tripping is not tolerated, the anxiety over staying superior, and the fear of falling out of favour are very real.
As recipients of diverse delights from those in the spotlight, how quick we are to criticise, how enthusiastic to run the scanner over their actions, and how seemingly ignorant of their inner strife to sustain their glory! We put them on a pedestal with a caveat – deliver, or else we dethrone. We set their standards, and we decide their standing, and irony of ironies, we envy them for leading ‘privileged lives’!
Seriously, don’t we understand the challenge of performing unfailingly, time after time? Of course, we do. We precisely know how hard it is be consistently good at whatever we are doing in our daily lives. We feel the strain when we are constantly appraised, we live in the fear of falling short, we carry the apprehension of being criticised and of being unloved, we are aware of our obligation to perform faultlessly – as a homemaker, as an employee, as a parent, as a socialite, as a friend, as a human being. The duress of having to stay up to the mark in our routine life winds up in multiple ailments; yet when someone out there fails, we quickly gather our critical instincts and pronounce uncharitable verdicts.
For all the worth that excellence as a virtue adds to one’s actions, it is an albatross hanging around his neck, allowing him no freedom to fail. We all aspire for distinction, and recognize our responsibility to be the best we can, but we also expect to be forgiven when we fail to make the cut. I don’t espouse mediocrity, but I hope we realize that human faculties are prone to fluctuations.
Let not excellence be determined by individual instances of inadequacy. It’s unfair to deck up someone’s reputation with our expectations, and when he slips, dress him down without pity.
Let us be prudent in our assessment, and allow ourselves and others the opportunity to be less than excellent. Yes, it is alright to be below par now and then, for it is impossible to put up a superlative performance during every single outing. Those who know our attributes will understand and stand by us even when the chips are down.
The enduring nature of fine quality shines though even when it is under a passing cloud. It is what distinguishes a Messi who missed a free kick, from a Farah Khan who serves trash as if it were gourmet delight. The former is genuine flair that failed, and the latter is bona fide failure that just flared. Let’s know the difference between the two.
(Asha Iyer Kumar is a freelance journalist based in Dubai)
