Ruthlessness or determination?
In a letter sent to an Italian newspaper about one month before he died, Pope Francis made yet another appeal for peace, in which he stressed the importance of the careful use of words. I quote part of the letter1 :
I would like to encourage you and all those who devote work and intelligence to inform, through communication tools that now unite our world in real time: feel the full importance of words. They are never just words: they are deeds that build human environments. They can connect or divide, serve truth or serve it. We need to disarm words, to disarm minds and disarm the Earth. There is a great need for reflection, for calmness, for a sense of complexity.
These words are profoundly wise. I could add other examples of enlightened people (Mandela, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Daisaku Ikeda) who urged us to stay away from words geared toward stimulating the violent part innate in every human being.
I dwell on a word commonly used in the language of sports, football but not only, which from my point of view is an example of how word choice is not harmless, but contributes to the creation of an atmosphere that can easily result in violence. I quote words from two famous sportsmen:
“Ruthlessness is knowing that when you have a chance, you take it. No hesitation.”
“Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise. Ruthlessness is part of that.”
I quote the definition of ruthlessness from the Cambridge dictionary2 :
the quality of not thinking or worrying about any pain caused to others when deciding what you need to do
I think that not worrying about any pain you can cause to others is similar to evil, and it normally generates violence and anger, a state in which we are completely prey to our emotional side and in which our lucidity is totally clouded. I believe this is the exact opposite of the state of mind of a sportsman facing a competition, in which he must be at the peak of his physical and mental faculties. It is precisely mental lucidity that can make all the difference in foreseeing a partner’s pass, an opponent’s intervention, or envisioning an absolutely brilliant shot.
We cannot help but notice that the exhortation to ruthlessness already occurs in the competitions of our children, who immediately begin to breathe an atmosphere made up of words oriented toward violence. And we then come to the paradox that, in the exultation of scoring a goal, the emotional reaction is sometimes a manifestation of anger instead of joy and satisfaction.
English language has a beautiful word to use instead of ruthlessness, that should be banned from the sports context. This word is determination, I asked Microsoft Copilot (artificial intelligence tool) for ithe definition:
Determination is the inner strength that drives a person to pursue a goal steadily and steadfastly, despite obstacles or difficulties. It is the ability to stay focused on a goal, without allowing oneself to be discouraged. In the sports context, it is that grit that leads an athlete to give his or her all, to overcome his or her limits and not give up in the face of challenges.
Let us follow the call of Pope Francis, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Daisaku Ikeda. Let’s disarm sports, with determination let’s put evilness aside!
You can send your comment to info@esperienzedivalore.it, I will be happy to respond.