The 2024 ISA World Surfing Games Reminds Me: Always Be Humble
Reflections on Day 5 of ISA Competition In Puerto Rico
I’m old now but once upon a time in a former life I thought I was pretty special. I had a great career and a great family. I was young and pretty certain it was all due to my own hard work and prowess. I was full of pride.
Well, God has a way of reminding us that we’re not really all that special and that’s certainly what He did for me. And he did me a favor, of that much I’m certain.
What I know now is indispensable. It’s a kind of wisdom that can only be gained through just the right lessons.
That wisdom is this: To the extent that our lives are indeed good we should always remember to be thankful.
You may get away with being prideful for a time but God can blink and snap you right back into reality. And the reality of this world is that we should always count our blessings. As mentioned I know this from experience.
Refresher Course
Not too long ago the young world class surfer Erin Brooks was stuck in legal limbo trying to gain Canadian Citizenship. At the time the bureaucrats were doing the only thing bureaucrats seem to excel at which is to invariably make things worse and miserable for the rest of us.
I was pretty irritated about the circumstances surrounding all of this since the Canadian Immigration’s Minister simply needed to grant Erin’s citizenship—something that seemed all but inevitable to happen at some point anyway—with the stroke of his pen.
Of course it appeared that there were other factors and circumstances that seemed to be complicating things on the peripheries but I kept it simple in my own mind.
Just cut through the bureaucratic red tape, stop with all of the mumbo jumbo legalese, and dispense with all of the excuses already!
One stroke of his pen and Erin would have her citizenship. That simple.
Except of course it wasn’t because nothing with bureaucrats usually is.
Well, until it was again and he finally relented and did in fact grant her citizenship (hooray!).
But that’s not what this story is actually about so please bear with me.
During that time—prior to Erin gaining her hard fought Canadian citizenship—I wrote a heartfelt response to someone online about the issue. I explained that the bureaucrats were not only messing with Erin’s Olympic hopes and dreams but that they were actually jeopardizing the hopes and dreams of the entire Canadian Women’s Surfing Team.
More specifically the Canadian sisters Mathea and Sanoa Olin.
This is because surfing’s Olympic qualification process is a convoluted mess.
One might only truly be capable of understanding the Olympic surfing qualification process if they are a graduate level physicists specializing in quantum mechanics. This way when they focus in on the microscopic details and realize it all breaks down into its own little kind of chaos they’ll feel right at home. - Me
Anyway, since the team gold medal winner (per gender) at the 2024 ISA’s in Puerto Rico gains a third Olympic qualification spot—where normally a nation is limited to two spots maximum for the Olympics—I explained that preventing Erin from surfing for Canada was jeopardizing Team Canada’s (aka Mathea and Sanoa) chances as a whole. And to show myself a little fairness there was some validity to my opinion. But that’s not the whole story so wait, there’s more!
The National Olympic Committee of the team that wins that team gold medal can essentially name anyone they wish (within reason) to their national surfing team to fill that third Olympic spot.
Here’s where my pride came into play so don’t miss this.
I assumed that if Team Canada had any chance of winning that team gold in Puerto Rico it would only be possible with Erin leading the way. I assumed that without her they really didn’t stand much of a chance. And again, there was good reason for me to feel this way but I went beyond thinking it.
I was so certain of the fact that Team Canada’s women couldn’t win without Erin that only my own pride could explain it.
While, again, this was a reasonable take based on the circumstances and the surfing abilities of all involved at the time, God once again reminds me that His plans matter more than my own assumptions and what I “think” I know about much of anything.
More on this in a moment.
Embarrassing Event
A couple of days ago I wrote that the waves in Puerto Rico were pretty great.
And on that first day of competition in particular they were acceptable.
Today on Day 5 of competition, not so much. At least not for the women’s repechage rounds anyway.
Unfortunately this has been the case for the past couple of days at the location the women were relegated to surf their respective repechage rounds. Straight up garbage waves and conditions. Pitiful. Embarrassing.
I do understand that surfing as a sport operates at the mercy of the ocean but at some point the organizers of these events (ISA, WSL, etc) must realize they’re only embarrassing themselves by running heats in terrible conditions as if nothing is amiss, right?
I’m really not so sure they do realize this however.
As is so often the case when it comes to government bureaucrats everywhere, it would almost seem to be a law of reality that bureaucrats of any kind, whether government, corporate, or otherwise, from any given organizational body, are simply incapable of feeling shame.
Do none of the individuals involved feel any sense of responsibility or remorse when they make decisions that are so often simply indefensible?
Do they feel any shame for the role they’ve played in permitting the circumstances for how so many of these young women lost out on their Olympic dreams today?
Not because of their own abilities in many cases mind you, but simply due to despicable conditions for having a “world class” surfing contest?
I mean of course someone has to win and someone has to lose so that’s a given regardless of conditions.
Obviously this is the case and an obtuse view could relieve one’s conscience I suppose but at what costs to fairness and good faith competition?
Did these bureaucrats carry any burden of regret as they watched world class surfers paddle around in soft mushy slop desperately trying to find anything they could pop to their feet on so as to at least pretend to be doing something resembling world class Olympic level surfing?
Forced to do so in what was sadly an all too often futile attempt to do something, anything, that might sway the judges favor?
Just as always seems to be the case with all bureaucrats everywhere I honestly don’t think they even care. Their guidance to all involved always seems to be to put lipstick on that pig and talk about how great the competition was blah - blah blah - blah blah - OINK, or face certain and fierce repercussions from the powers that be.
Revelation Of The Lesson
As I sat considering all of this just minutes after having just watched Erin lose her Olympic bid today I realized that while I was indeed very sad for her I wasn’t really all that worried for her.
You see, I have a talent for creating situations where God gets to remind me to always be humble. Situations of my own making seemingly designed specifically to remind me that He can take circumstances that we can’t possibly see as having a positive effect in our lives and somehow He’s able to turn it all into something good.
I don’t know what He has in mind this time.
It might be so that Erin gets an amazing comeback story for the Olympics in LA ‘28.
Or it might be any number of other lessons that others may glean from this aside from my own. Who knows?
I really don’t know but I’m just not all that worried because Erin has an old soul and a warrior spirit that will see her through. Of that much I’m certain.
But what I can’t help but wonder is if I myself might be destined to once again learn yet another valuable lesson in humility here via my own comments about the Olin sisters having no shot at winning the team gold without Erin?
If you would have told someone (me, I mean me, just fyi, I’m the someone) a year ago that the Olin sisters would actually be responsible for securing Erin’s spot in the Olympics, I would have scoffed, and then laughed, and then scoffed some more!
Not out of any disrespect for the Olin sisters because I’m a fan and have wanted Team Canada to do well as a whole all along. No, insulting them wouldn’t have been my intention.
Instead I would have once again been convinced of how much “I” know about something only to find out that I was simply wrong.
I should know better than to think I know better about much of anything these days (maybe even things like suitable conditions for a surf competition for example?) but apparently, sometimes, I still don’t.
Maybe the conditions, the people involved, the surfers, the fans, and everyone else in this life (except for bureaucrats—they’re irredeemable) are simply just doing the best they can and God will make things work for good one way or another regardless of how “I” feel, or what “I” think about any of it.
Maybe once again, I need to just remember to be humble?
And humble pie is something I’m certainly prepared to eat in this particular situation.
I won’t even care how it taste!
Not if the Olin sisters somehow manage to pull off a small miracle by getting Erin her ticket into the Olympics anyway. Wow! Now that would be an epic story worthy of my own self deprecating admission that I can absolutely be a total knucklehead sometimes.
And don’t worry, if I happen to forget that fact God will definitely find a way to remind me.
~~~
—Nuance Wire