Minute of silence

Spain has been hit by a terrible tragedy, hundreds of people have died as a result of catastrophic floods, and the whole world has reacted. Including the world of sports. Football teams involved in European cup matches this week will observe a minute of silence "in memory of the victims" of the floods in the Spanish region of Valencia, UEFA announced. We have seen how the decision is respected in Champions League matches, in Eindhoven, Madrid, Lisbon, Dortmund... Respect and civilization transcend various socio-sporting rivalries. For our teams to reach the level of those in Spain, Germany, England, Italy, enormous investments would be needed, money that we do not have at the moment and may never have.

But even without money we could learn the lesson of respect. It is not so difficult to understand that without respect for the living and the dead you cannot build anything serious. Just this fall, we heard boos and curses from the stands of our stadiums during moments of silence, or an entire gallery shouting "Die!" when an opposing player was suffering on the pitch as a result of a harsh foul. The fact that we play football more or less well does not say much about us as people, but the fact that we do not know how to respect a moment of silence does us no honor at all. Excess hatred, lack of empathy disqualify us from almost all points of view, and jokes and ironies also have their time and place, otherwise they are simply sticks in the mud of stupidity.

I still hope that it will not be necessary to hold a moment of silence for the sake of common sense!