Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - 7:51 AM
We never know and we never will
I was flipping through the newspapers on Monday. Normally, I would not even bother to open the Chinese newspaper but I was fortunate that I did. In an obscure section of the paper, I found an article related to Tae-Kwon-Do. Mildly interested, I scanned down the columns and to my surprise, found a pile of unpleasanties lumped together in a disturbing article.It reported that the day before, the Singapore Tae-Kwon-Do Gymnasium had organized a competition for its members. In the very first opening match, a 15-year old green belt aimed a kick at a 17-year old blue belt's neck and knocked him out. The blue belt staggered, struggling to pull himself together. The next moment, he lay crumpled on the floor, under the sea of horrified spectators, unconcious. Since then, he has been in a coma and shows no sign of recovery.
Seeing this article, I fail to recognize why such a mishap would happen with the officials present at the incident. The only sensible reason would be that the referees were not clear of their delegated tasks. I mean, seriously speaking, the referees are in charge of the situation. They are responsible for the fouls commited by the competitors and it is their job to watch over the match and step in if necessary. However, it still did not prevent the accident. Perhaps the referees were complacent and, doubting that a big issue would arise, chose to stand aside to allow the participants to do as they please. They may not have anonounced the tournament rules beforehand or did not take their job seriously.
On that day itself, I was also taking part in a Tae-Kwon-Do tournament. I shudder to think what would happen if misfortune setteled itself in our midst. Luckily for me, I escaped unscathed, albeit some minor bruises. However, this has let me to realise that misfortune does not play by the same rules as we do. It does not have a fixed timetable to follow. It strikes anywhere and anytime. Most fail to make themselves impervious to the threat, due to the many flaws in human nature- Complacency, arrogance and so on. We must remain vigilant, even in the brightest of day, because we never know when tragedy might arrive in its black carridge, and we never will.
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