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The Most Passionate Thing You'll Read This Week by EMXTAN1(m): 9:31pm On Jun 28, 2016 |
Teacher Yohana bleeps' letter made waves across
Argentina, as she called on Barcelona star Lionel Messi to
reconsider his decision to retire
Lionel Messi's retirement from the Argentina national team
has turned the country upside down in the past few days,
with an entire nation stunned by the news after Chile beat
them in the Copa America final.
Argentina president Mauricio Macri, Buenos Aires mayor
Horacio Rodriguez Larreta and football god Diego Maradona
have begged for the Barcelona forward to change his mind,
but perhaps the most moving message of all has come via
Entre Rios teacher Yohana bleeps.
Her passionate plea quickly went viral among the millions of
Argentina supporters desperate for Messi to reconsider his
international retirement.
The letter in full:
"Lionel Messi,
"You will probably never read this letter. But I will write it all
the same, not as a football fan but as an Argentine teacher,
in this profession that I chose and love as you love your
own.
"I could write to you about your marvelous talents in the
most popular sport in our country, the pleasure it gives me
to be one of the generations lucky enough to see you show
off the magic in your boots, or about the admiration you
awake in every country in the world. But that would only
serve to repeat cliches. Instead I will write for your help in a
much tougher challenge than you have ever faced, I want
you to help me in the difficult mission of moulding the
behaviour of those kids who see you as a football hero and
an example to follow.
"No matter how much love and dedication I put into my
work, I will never receive from my students that incredible
fascination they feel for you. Now they will see their biggest
idol give up. I beg you not to give the satisfaction to
mediocre people; those who, frustrated by the thousands of
dreams they didn't achieve aim their resentment at a
football player, those who speak about the rest because it is
free and easy to do so. You are hearing this from a teacher
who, despite the distance between us, deals with that nasty
Argentine habit of thinking somebody else's job is simple,
that scoring goals is as easy as building a house or a future
for a person. It is that sick compulsion to bring someone
down, or turn into idiotic judges that slam with contempt
and arrogance the performance of others, only valuing
victories and writing off mistakes as failures, those same
errors that make us human and keep us learning.
"Please do not quit, don't let my students think that this
country only cares about winning and coming first. Do not
show them that no matter how successful you are in life,
you will never manage to keep the rest happy and, worse
still, do not make them feel they must live to make others
happy. Do not send them this mistaken message that,
despite overcoming so many adversities, fighting from a
young age to become the triumphant man you are today, all
that is tainted by the critics of those envious people who
deep down would kill to be like you.
"If something like you, who had your family at your side,
who has a hefty personal wealth and the support of so
many people, cannot do it, how can they believe they are
capable of carrying on having to face so many battles, day-
in, day-out?
"I do not talk to them about how wonderfully Messi plays
football, but of the thousands of free kicks he practised to
manage to put the ball in the angle beyond the reach of any
goalkeeper. I tell them of the Messi who put up with
countless painful injections to keep chasing his dream; the
Messi who with all the money he has earned helps other
kids like him with their own difficult situations; I tell them of
the adult Messi, the man who raised a family and deals with
the most important job in the world, being a good parent;
the Messi who stops a fan who mobs him in the middle of a
match from being harmed; the Messi who can even miss a
penalty because our faults make us humans, and that
shows them even the greatest of all time is imperfect as
well.
"Do not give up, do not put the shirt with our country's
colours away, because when you pull the shirt on you
become an Argentine that represents us all. Not all of us
await medals and cups to feel wonderfully proud you are
one of us. Please do not make my students feel that coming
second is a defeat, and that the value of a person depends
on how full his trophy cabinet is, or that losing a game is to
lose glory.
"My students need to understand that the noblest heroes, be
they doctors, soldiers, teachers or football players, are
those who give the best of themselves for the good of
others, even knowing that nobody will value them more for
that, knowing that if they do manage a triumph it will belong
to everyone while if they fail it will be their failure alone.
Even so they keep trying. But above all, they have heroism
and courage, when they fight and overcome losses with
bravery and integrity, even with the whole universe saying
we will never make it.
"And one day they will enjoy the greatest victory: they will
feel happy being themselves, with the demons they had to
face in order to make it no longer an issue.
"Everybody talks about balls, I believe in the strength of your
heart." |
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