There is a classic comedy sketch from a programme broadcast in 1976 by The Two Ronnies in which a customer enters a hardware store and asks the salesperson for four candles, but by the customer’s accent the salesperson thinks he is saying fork handles. The salesperson, therefore, brings back fork handles only for the customer to advise him that is not what he asked for. There then follows a series of misunderstood requests based on words sounding the same, but having different meanings (including plugs, hose, pipes, pumps and most interestingly, peas) to great comic effect, though the sketch is forever remembered by the four candles. What we will consider today in this article, however, is not so much fork handles, but just handles — four of them.
Kara Lawson was one of the best basketball players in the world, winning an Olympic gold medal as well as a WNBA championship (among other titles as a player) and later became a highly successful basketball coach. One of the things she stressed to her players was “We all wait in life for things to get easier. It will never get easier. What happens is you handle hard better ... so make yourself a person that handles hard well.”
She is correct in saying that we wait (and want) for things to get easier, and in truth, many things have made life much easier for us with advances in technology – we can travel by car as opposed to a horse; we fly further and longer and more comfortably; we can do all sorts of tasks on our small portable phones; we have bikes with numerous gear settings; we have dishwashers and washing machines. In many respects, life has become easier.
In sport, we see how things have become easier (or maybe just different). Large racing yachts now travel at high speeds powered not just by the wind; soccer and hockey all-weather pitches make the games much quicker. People even questioned Liverpool’s success in winning the EPL title this year, claiming that it was easier as opponents were deemed to be not so good, though it has also been noted that more teams are actually challenging for the top four places than in previous years. It seems climbing Everest is too easy now so people have to do it without oxygen, by starting at sea level and all sorts of other different ways. Some do like it harder.
Having said all that, that much of life is easier, Kara Lawson is indeed correct in saying that things will never get easier. Relationships do not necessarily get easier; in fact, they be even harder to handle. Sailing boats may go faster but they still face rough seas. We do not wait for the weather to ease but rather learn to deal with rough weather. Opponents are getting stronger, so, yes, we need to handle hard better.
So, what we need are handles (or candles, as you wish) four of them, in order to handle hard better. The first handle we need is to hold on to the fact that ‘It [hard times] Will Pass’. The storm will eventually die down; the difficulties will ease. Half-time will come. The bell, or whistle, will ring. Any player, as with any person in day to day living, needs to remember and acknowledge that the problem will pass, but equally they do well to bear in mind that the praise and indeed the opportunity will pass. We must play harder at such times.
Secondly, ‘It [hard times] Has Purpose’. If nothing else, it will make us stronger; it will teach us invaluable lessons. Then too, ‘It Gives Power’; muscles are strengthened by being broken down, by being stretched. And the last of the four handles is ‘It Deepens Pleasure’; we gain far more pleasure by overcoming tough assignments rather than simply achieving easy targets.
It follows, therefore, that when we are teaching and coaching our youngsters, we need to give them opportunities to handle hard better; players need to play tougher opposition in order to improve (bringing in top players from other schools is only weakening the opposition and therefore is not helping the players) and pupils need to be challenged with their work. As we have noted and quoted before, “Life’s not fair: get used to it”. Handle hard better. Pupils must not slide into complaining, moaning, blaming. This is no comedy sketch. Children need handles and candles and four peas: Passing, Purpose, Power, Pleasure. Handles come in a hardware shop – that is better.
- In the groove: Has Enzo Ishall rescinded his decision to quit?
- Interview: Ngwerume’s artistic exploits put Zimbabwe on global map
- Interview: Ngwerume’s artistic exploits put Zimbabwe on global map
- Top Zim triathlete makes history in the US
