The Games

“Between the heart and mirror is this single difference,

The heart conceals secrets while the mirror does not.”

Rumi

We see people hanging out together, playing in the same flight, and sitting on the same tables. Sometimes sleeping under the same roof or cuddling in the same bed. Still maintaining the distance wider than the Pacific Ocean and is colder than the Atlantic Ocean. No secret burns you more than envy, crush, and resentment. Jealousy is a game itself. A game that uses your blood as fuel and your mind as the arena. Some live oceans apart still they stay so close, right under each others’ eyebrows.

Each sport has its merits and demerits, pros and cons, but the games of golf and the state of resentment have unique aspects in their folders. Golf is the only sport where you can drink, smoke, eat, swear and backbite about anyone and anything, while the game is in progress. You can make fun of your flight mate or you can crack jokes about your spouse and colleague. You can hit a ball out of bounds and lose it forever or you can sink it. You can land in the sandpit or you can drop it directly into the hole. You can meet a refreshment cart on a turn or you can sip hot tea at a midway hut. You can ride a motor cart or you can bring in your pushcart. One thing is sure that you have to bend your knees to play golf. Yes, golf is a strange game and it is played in such a manner. On the other hand, jealousy is a solo sport and it is played in silence.

While the round of golf begins with a long strike, hit by a fat-headed club, that makes a loud sound and ends with a fragile touch of a small putter. In the meantime, you walk and talk. Then strike a middle shot with a different club. In the game of jealousy, the strike is soundless but it’s extremely excruciating. There is no partner but it tears you apart repeatedly. There is no victory in jealousy but an endless defeat. But they say that you don’t make it unless someone out there envies you. I will add, “you ain’t living if you don't make people jealous.”

They say life is also a game. The game at the fairway and the game of breaths are different but it is better if they are both played fairly and frankly. Not all games are played to win. We sometimes lose some games purposely and the game of love is one of them. Losing to a loved one is no loss. And winning an argument from a stranger makes no difference. Playing patiently leads the way to the perfect drop. And slow and steady wins the race. Turtles live a lot longer than rabbits. Running fast doesn’t prolong a rabbit's life. Maybe patience is the cradle of peace.

It is said patience is a virtue but no one likes to wait these days. It seems that virtuosity is no longer the valid code. Drones have minimized valor to dust and the technology of bullets has marginalized bravery. Not all battles are fought with gunpowder and rockets, some rivalries are conducted in peace. Golf wars are the best example. Those relying on long shorts lose to the straight ones. The precision of the old pill Mickelson defeats the young, muscular & mighty. The other day it opened my eyes to what Bryson DeChambeau said to Brooks Koepka: “It’s nice to be living rent-free in your head.”

What a lesson I got from this simple line. Great chivalry. It is deep, meaningful, and thought-provoking. If only we were willing to live in each other's hearts paying the rent through the currency of mutual respect and with the coins of affection.

“If you could Unite your wings and free your soul of jealousy, you and everyone around you will fly like doves.”

Rumi

Credits

Google

PAF Skyview GCC

By

Ahsan Jamil

Golfer, Blogger, Entrepreneur, Author, Poet, Wanderer, photographer, Rebel. YouTuber

Email: Golfaij@gmail.com

Website: Golfaij.com

YouTube: Morning with Golf