two games

from the bottom of the abyss of German history,
under the burden of the millions of victims of murder,
i did what human beings do when speech fails them
- Willy Brandt

when he did this years ago, it stirred up a lot of debate- was it exaggerated?

for every emotional person in this world, there is another who is rational, who is able to think clearly, so clearly such that sometimes it becomes sceptism rather than rationality.


it is just like how some people will look on amused, as some people jump in joy when their team scores a goal, or cry when their team loses.

if there were one photo i regretted not taking, it would be the one of the Croatian girl with the Croatia flag draped over her shoulders in Hamburg, at the Heiligengeistfeld, where they were showing the Euros on the big screen.

Croatia was defending for much of the extra time, and then that one minute of madness happened. First Croatia scored against the run of play. Then, just as suddenly, the Turks equalised.

from euphoria to shock. the look of disbelief. the shaking of her head. as they replayed the goal. the understanding of what had happened that dawned.

and when luka modric, the best penalty taker for Croatia missed, i knew she knew it- it was over.

and when turkey finally won it, the turkish majority simply erupted.

at that point in time, i suddenly realised how terrible it must have been for her and the other Croatians, who were outnumbered maybe 1 to 100.

it was a feeling i myself would experience just a day later in Lübeck. but what she experienced for that half an hour, where everything started going wrong for Croatia, i had to endure for 120 minutes.

maybe i should have left.

but i couldnt.