ONE FOR THE TEAM (Words of a team player)

We are a team. We all play a role, though not the same role. We all play important roles, though not all of them are crucial for the team. I know you might have heard of the misconstruetion that we all are equal in this team. No we are not.

I, for an absolute certainty am not equal to any of you in this team. In the slightest of sense I believe I am more equal. Now, far be it off your conclusive nature to deem me a proud individual. But if I be proud then let it be for the same reason why i perceive myself of a more embossed stature and status than any of you in this team; and that would be that I always take one for the team.

Yes, as a team we tackle challenges together. Yes we make history together, yes we break traditions laid by former players of life together. Even after every victory we celebrate together and in the same manner in every defeat we recoil and hurdle together in remorse and confusion.

What has escaped your faculties is the fact that the peak of each celebration and the steepest of each defeat has and will for a long time be hinged on an individual. Yes, one individual. An individual who see no inconvenience in giving his all for the team. Sacrificially and not in pretence, malice nor mere words, this individual bears the emotions of every other person on this team. I for that matter have felt the greatest of joy when we win. And the painful of all pangs when we lose has always dwelt within me.

And is it not so amazing that other teams have such a person amidst them? Our families are teams and each has the nucleus, a key individual we so badly rely on for livelihood, support and even the stability of emotion when everyone else's emotions is failing them. We see them as superhumans who are supposed to be numb to external stimuli.

I always have taken a fall, a risk and a series of silly gambles for the team. Mostly I fail, and the consequences of such I have so much learnt to cushion from harming my fellow team players. Rarely I win, but when I do, I ensure all credit goes to the team. Of what benefit then is this to me? I appear to be gaining nothing.

Every time I take a fall for the team, I feel like a sharpened sword, hidden in the shadow of a hunters hand. And every time I take a blame for the team, I feel like a polished arrow concealed in the quiver of a hunter. And the lowest of my dejection I feel like an arrow placed on the bow and pulled so much back. The joy however is that the further I get pulled, the further I shall shoot. The more I take one for the team, the better I become as a player. The better the leader I become and the more a solution maker I become.

Sooner, there won't be a team without me.