It was a beautiful Sunday evening with the entire family in front of the television, gathered to watch the finals of the Indian Premier League and a player from the home team failed to perform on one crucial delivery when one of my cousins shouted: "What the hell? Even I could have hit that ball!".
I have subjected to using this title more as an irony rather than what Allen Iverson meant during the infamous press conference because sometimes we fail to realise the insane amount of work high-performers (including Allen Iverson of course) put into their profession, that we are moving towards a mindset that believes it is easy to be the best. Yes, it might seem easy at first to all, so easy that on one fine day, we decide we would give it a shot to be the best in our profession, and we start to put in the work for the first five days until the weekend comes up and we end up with a rut that lasts for the next few weeks. It is just like how Jordan said in Episode 6 of the first season of The Last Dance: "It's funny, a lot of people say they like to be Michael Jordan, for a day or a week, but let them try to be Michael Jordan for a year, see if they like it". Michael Phelps went through 5 straight years without a single day-off. Not One! Take some time to digest that. Another cliche example is of Elon Musk, who has every 5 minutes of the day sorted.
People generally cannot fathom the work and sacrifice it takes to be one of the greatest, or even to perform at their best level, consistently. They just, don't. It takes an immense amount of passion, discipline, hard work and focus for a person to be the best in their craft. And I am not just referring to sports; it can be any profession. If you are not the best in your craft but still happy with the life you live, then I will be genuinely happy for you. But what I intended to convey in this piece, is that one should not demean other professionals to make it seem like it takes nothing to be at the level they are performing. You only have the right to do so if you are/have been at a similar or better level than they are.
I hope I have done justice in conveying the message, in this short writing for an issue that most men and women seem to take lightly. I would like to end this by asking the reader to try and make an effort to start respecting people who are the best in their profession. They have dedicated their blood and time into something they genuinely care for, the least we can do is to take an infinitesimal part of that time to think before we say something impulsively.
- Danush S, 26 October, 2020.