Sometimes, all we need is just a bit bit of Passion

01012009, on the first day of the new year, I spent it playing soccer. From 1 to 5, on St. Wilfred's ground, my sweat slain that astro turf. And we kept it clean -- we thrashed our opponents.

Sometimes I feel really lucky that I had a band of friends that are so passionate about the sport, that we had spent countless weekends, Chinese new year's eves, Christmases, Hari Raya-s, Deepavali-s on soccer fields/courts, playing that most popular sport on Earth.

And they are very serious. When we lose, we curse and swear. When deadlocks occur -- and they do occur very often -- they got agitated: we haven't lose, but we cursed and swore.

But why so serious? Isn't this just another Sunday soccer team? Isn't the gathering itself meant more than winning the game?

From the mouth of my brother: "We must play serious, because if we don't, we'll lose, and every one in the team becomes slack. Once we submit to this fact, that we can't win anymore, then everything the team stood for before becomes insignificant. People will stop coming, our passion diminished. And then there wouldn't even be a gathering anymore."

How true. Sometimes, all we need is just a bit bit of passion in the stuff we do. Like that bit of nagging in your hamstring for you to move while you slough away in your office. That bit of adrenaline rush that we all sometimes felt when we are reminded that yes, there's going to be soccer this sunday morning. That bit of imagination that you are dribbling a ball while you side-stepped pedestrians on a crowded street.

Because its either that, or its shopping, eating, going to church/temple/mosque, and then back to work on monday.