Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
“Dad, why did you cheat that boy?” asked Shiye
while Venanzio, after a feint to avoid a defender, had thrown the
ball at one of his comrades. The child wanted to follow his father,
hiding his spirit in his head.
“It’s a game” replied Venanzio. “There is an agreement between all the players and the spectators. Here you can use your cunning to make sure you win.”
“But that boy was not at all happy about being cheated” continued Shiye. “I saw it clearly from his expression.”
Venanzio was running back to give a hand to the defense. “It’s part of the game. When it happens to me I have the same expression.”
“I don’t understand” the child insisted. “You taught me the need to be always sincere. Why you are making fun of people.”
Venanzio smiled. “We’re having fun. Tonight I’ll teach you how to play.”
“Yes, Dad. I really want to understand.”
Shiye patiently waited for the end of the game when the stands were evenly divided between people happy for the victory and other just unhappy.
“Dad if it’s a game why are those people so sad? Wouldn’t it be better for them not to come to this event?”
Venanzio was one of the sad people. AC Milan had lost the game in the last few minutes. His comrades and himself were going back to the locker room with their heads down.
“Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose” whispered Venanzio. “But if you don’t participate you will never be part of this fun. Next time, maybe it’s up to us to be happy and they to be unhappy. If we were always the ones to be happy for winning, we wouldn’t be happy. Too much happiness then becomes monotony. You have to lose to understand how beautiful it’s to win.”
Shiye thought for a long time. “How complicated it’s to be a person like you. It will be difficult to learn.”
Venanzio smiled.
“It’s a game” replied Venanzio. “There is an agreement between all the players and the spectators. Here you can use your cunning to make sure you win.”
“But that boy was not at all happy about being cheated” continued Shiye. “I saw it clearly from his expression.”
Venanzio was running back to give a hand to the defense. “It’s part of the game. When it happens to me I have the same expression.”
“I don’t understand” the child insisted. “You taught me the need to be always sincere. Why you are making fun of people.”
Venanzio smiled. “We’re having fun. Tonight I’ll teach you how to play.”
“Yes, Dad. I really want to understand.”
Shiye patiently waited for the end of the game when the stands were evenly divided between people happy for the victory and other just unhappy.
“Dad if it’s a game why are those people so sad? Wouldn’t it be better for them not to come to this event?”
Venanzio was one of the sad people. AC Milan had lost the game in the last few minutes. His comrades and himself were going back to the locker room with their heads down.
“Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose” whispered Venanzio. “But if you don’t participate you will never be part of this fun. Next time, maybe it’s up to us to be happy and they to be unhappy. If we were always the ones to be happy for winning, we wouldn’t be happy. Too much happiness then becomes monotony. You have to lose to understand how beautiful it’s to win.”
Shiye thought for a long time. “How complicated it’s to be a person like you. It will be difficult to learn.”
Venanzio smiled.
Shiye - Incipit
Our Madness
Part 1
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Fairy Tales
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Our Madness
