adventuresofasuperwoman

For the love of the world cup!

Yes! Suck it up cupcakes! I’m going to say something about the 2010 Fifa soccer world cup … I know you’ve heard it all but I think I need to just utter something here, even if it’s just to soothe my own super conscience!

Recently I received one of those irritating chain mails that gets forward to everybody and their gran. Now listen here, when it’s something positive, I enjoy it just as much as the next person but when these mails are flirting with doom and gloom, I get slightly twitchy. Allow me to mention but a couple of dramatic examples:

• violin spiders that will creep up in the middle of the night and take a bite out of you for no reason and three days later you’ll have a gat the size of Kimberley’s somewhere in your body;
• evil criminals that are following you around just to kidnap you at the first opportunity and then sell you off during the world cup as a do-anything prostitute (I mean really, like anybody would volunteer to pimp this body!?); or
• the worst yet, those chain mails that threaten you with some horrible death if you don’t forward it to 9 and a half people within exactly the next 3 and a third minutes.

…It gets me blood boiling every time!

Back to the soccer… and chain mails, the one I received the past week continued to set out all the terrible things that’s going to happen to the nation during the 2010 Fifa soccer world cup. My very best friend and I, out of sheer disgust, had a look at all the positives that could come from the daunting list of negatives:

• Number 1 on the list is the fact that the schools will be closed for slightly longer than usual, what will you do with your kids? – First off, if it’s such a punishment to have your kids around for a bit longer… maybe you should reconsider having any more! Second, think of all the daycares and child centers that will be able to make a little more money during this time, and think about the fact that more work for them probably means that they may have to appoint another couple of helping hands… is it possible that this may just be a good thing, mmm?
• Next up, flight tickets will be ridiculously expensive and add to that the noise and traffic around airports and you have some very unhappy bunnies! – Allow me to point out here that this, my fellow super people is merely a temporary inconvenience and even though the traffic will be congested and flights will be more expensive just think about all the money the airlines will be making (is it possible that they may just be ending the year on a positive note and not be forced to retrench thousands of workers), think about all the job creation! More flights means more work means more people getting a salary means less people suffering! Maybe I’m naïve but it doesn’t take a genius to figure this one out!
• And then off course there’s the “Oh my word! Fresh veggies and fruit will so not be available, we’re going to starve, stock up people!” Really now! Didn’t we learn this lesson in ’94? – Yes, there’s going to be a lot more people in the country (which is a good thing – tourism and all that) and everybody’s going to be buying food and fresh produce but also bear in mind that our very talented farmers aren’t idiots and are probably already prepared for this! And on the other hand, if we do sell out of fresh fruit and veggies, is it really such a bad thing when there’s nothing left to waste, is it so terrible when for once the farmers/producers/supermarkets sell all their produce and make a hefty profit. Come on! Really now, pop a vitamin and have some tinned tomatoes, you’ll be fine!

The rest of the email goes on and on, bitching about how terrible traffic will be and how the foreigners will be everywhere spending their pounds, euros and dollars giving the country an enormous economic boost… okay, the email doesn’t mention the economic boost-bit but you get my drift!

For the last time, the traffic is temporary… the millions of visitors to the country who is bound to come back to such a wonderful and positive place, that is something that will certainly have a lasting and positive effect on all of our lives! Can’t we just try and embrace it instead of fine combing everything for a possible negative?

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be careful, aware or even just plan ahead a bit more than usual, it’s good to be prepares but instead of focusing on all the negatives, I’m merely asking if we can’t rather look ahead to something else. Looking ahead to perhaps a country that is vibrant and young, growing faster every year on just about every front! A country with 11 official languages (how cool is that?!), with a cultural diversity so rich you’d have to travel a lifetime to find it elsewhere. A country that is booming with talent (old and young) so much so, the rest of the world is just too happy to accommodate us. A country that is running along a learning curve and that isn’t afraid to get up when it falls on this curve. I’m looking ahead to a country that is my home, that has the most resilient and welcoming people I’ve ever met, a country that finds hope and love in the face of adversity every single day. A country that is ready to welcome the world and ready to handle a world cup. I’m looking ahead! And the soccer… oh it’s sooo a good thing!