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this is not about football

I promise you this, trust me. So..

Let's start with some background here.
Arsenal- a football club in England for the rest of us (who don't support Man U). Just like Apple, the computer for the rest of us (who don't support Windows).
Gunners- terms for Arsenal football player.
Gooners- terms for Arsenal football fans.

so finally it comes. the news that break the hearts of, literally, millions of gooners.
we are on the verge of losing our best player, again.
on top of that, our captain.
the man who we think, may be different from the rest of them who left earlier.

Last year I wrote something about Cesc Fabregas, my then all time favorite Gunner.
He left for the club that must not be named.
He was captain too, then.
I thought he was different too, then.

Now it's Robin van Persie (RVP).
His no.10 shirt was once worn by a Dutch maestro called Dennis Bergkamp.
Just like Dennis, we brought RVP from a club where he failed to shine despite his talent.
Just like Dennis, RVP is ridiculously talented.
Just like Dennis, RVP is Dutch.

But Dennis won the best player award in his first season.
And Dennis signified the beginning of our golden era. You could say he was the pioneer.
RVP? He took years to show us what he got.
It's not 1 or 2 or even 4. It took him 7 years.
Because he almost always got injured. And it was long term injury, mostly.

So you would think with all those considered,
he will be different from other players who leave for trophy or money.
You will think he will at least inherit his predecessor's loyalty.
In fact he should be more fiercely loyal, given our loyalty to stick with him.
But no. He is leaving for a more guaranteed 'success'.

So why is this not about football?
Because this is actually, merely, a reflection of our society. Today.
A society that celebrates 'success', and glorify 'instant success'.
A society that feed on the Forbes list for inspiration.
And we don't give a damn how these people make it into the list.

A blogger made an interesting parable on RVP case.
Like a divorce. The club and the player are the parents. We, supporters, are the children.
And what a parable. Because indeed it's so much like the real marriage, today.

In the end, all those Forbes list, all those 'greatness'..are what Ecclesiastes is talking about.
Vanity of vanity.

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