Reasons To Be Cheerful: Parts 1, 2 and 3

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by @LFCMAGAZINE

Liverpool lost 1-0 last night, away to Manchester United. Out of another cup, but it’s early days yet season-wise.

It may be my age, but I am taking each loss a little harder each time, it’s as if my naturally optimistic, ‘can’t stop me’ self is being hammered away, bit by bit, with a big hammer of despondency.

I resorted to Twitter and read the vitriol, mixed in with the faithful and loyal, the agony of the loss interspersed with the happiness of the return of Luis. I pondered on our woes, and watched as the timeline grew with the supporters anger, surprise, joy and expectations for a happier, returning to glory, future.

I then clicked over to our ‘Followers’ and ‘Following’ part of the site, to go and follow some, and follow those who followed us: therein, I got a dose of reality, perspective, context.
I realised in an instant, that losing, drawing or winning means nothing in the greater scheme of things and yes, I admit, that focusing so much on the team and the great results of recent times, and the bitterness of loss…was all that I had been interested in, of late.

Here’s why:

1] Remember The 96?
No. Re-read that.
Do you? DO you?
Wouldn’t any one of them love to be doing what you were doing last night…watching our beloved team playing? For good or bad, don’t you think they would want that opportunity?
So when we’re looking down the dregs of our glasses, celebrating or commiserating. Think of the 96 much loved souls who cannot, and yet who would…
Will that make you feel any less troubled and full of angst?

2] I thought I had troubles.
Until I read one of our followers life story: @_Stephensstory
At 18, and battling cancer and raising funds for other sufferers and working tirelessly in this quest. I mean tirelessly, on top of treatment and illness.
This stopped me feeling so sorry for myself in my tracks. What the **** have I to moan about?
So the **** what if our team lost 1-0 to the Mancs?
So THE **** WHAT.
JUST SO THE *** WHAT.

3] Kenny and Marina.
Already a hero, and one who could spend his entire life just sitting around spending his cash on himself and his family and why not? He earned it, BIG time. He deserved it DOUBLE big time.
But no.
He’s waging his war against the disease that nearly took the love of his life, his children’s mother, the one, away from him.
He’s doing something to make a difference to others. He was and still is a foundation stone for the JFT96 campaign. He has always been there.
He’s still an inspiration, as is his wife and family.

Yet there I was, lamenting on something as transient and temporary as a result that didn’t go our way; even turning it on its head, if we’d won, or drew, the shallowness and triviality of that achievement, relatively, fades into infinity. Don’t you think?

I’m ashamed that I was this shallow, this miniscule and this puny of character.

I’ve had a massive reality dose, a huge wake-up call. I still adore my team, my heroes for 43 years, my source of wonderment and enjoyment so many times. I still will follow them with my heart, my feet, my head and my soul and still have them written into my DNA.

But fellow Kopites, fellow Scousers, fellow human-beings; let’s get some perspective and context when things are or aren’t going our way?
Retain that perspective, remain humble and remain, at heart, true to yourself and true to your team, my team, OUR team.