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Weekly Residuum 149 -April 2003 D
© photo and text Koen Nieuwendijk




My penchant for justice is a very time and energy consuming part of my life. That's alright by me even though the "yield" isn't much to write home about compared with the number of topics and their frequency. This is fine by me: whenever we do something useless in this know-it-all country of ours, we turn to the Olympic Games argument of participating being more important than winning. I personally doubt whether the average Olympic Committee's board of selection are even aware of this, which leaves me with a sense of intrigue whenever the paper confronts me with the heart-breaking news that this or that sportsman or woman has failed to qualify. Isn't that funny, I always think, how can they possibly know in advance how fast the pace will be in the near Olympic future. For if we assume that it is indeed so that lunar phases and sunspots affect our sleep as well as impacting on a handful of other sketchily recorded bodily functions, it could just be that the ice master whom the press has hung out to dry wasn't at all to blame for the national speed skating star's shocking fiasco. Apart from which it shouldn't be ruled out altogether that in so far as the Olympic Committees are truly dedicated to their principles, all of Europe could decide not to have anyone represent them at all for a particular discipline as no-one had managed to qualify, which when taken to extremes could imply that some day, at some Olympic Games, no-one at all from the non-corrupt countries would turn up, which would in fact cause the Olympic ideal to end up on the block of innovation after just under a century of hypocrisy: it's not about winning, it's about staying away.

To which I would add that I do hope that the talents of those who are blessed with modesty are not lost due to their not experiencing the urge to prove that this isn't the way it is, even though it's still painful to see a confession at this level get bogged down in uncertainty, it actually being my belief that the motto should be that it's not about winning but rather, about losing.

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