There is this really great video online that is immensely popular on youtube with a ping pong match online. It was something I watched about a few years ago. I tried finding it again, but there are many ping pong videos now, which are surely to have great rallies. The match was with two countries competing in ping pong. All were amazing female athletes there were very agile and moves quite well with team play and even in way with the other team.
The ping pong ball rests in an open hand palm, then it was time to begin the serve. Once served, the ping ball moved between the two courts. Many of the moves produces top spins where the ball hits when swinging in an upward motion. The two players from both sides mirrored the moves, though, it wasn’t exactly the same moves. Each move would have a response and sometimes the ball would go high and far. The players would reach for it when possible. Though, whatever the stakes were, they moved as a team from both sides. The audience even cheered together at the amazing play at hand. Essentially, they moved as one. Each player on both side moved together in play for that point. It was quite amazing.
If you step back just for a moment, we play as a whole. Not with just sides of teams between a line, though altogether.
In sports, there are players who come facing each other in a competition. The competition would be a match and all players would compete together for the victory. There was a time when I walked inside of a Nature Kabob. It is a little restaurant that would sell Falafel. Falafel is a traditional middle eastern dish served in vegetarian dishes. Right after ordering, I sat on a bar stool and started to look around the restaurant and suddenly a wave of customers entered and began to order. The checkout and cooking area was a slim hallway all in one, but it was just enough room for customer traffic to come in and out as necessary. Also, it was enough space for two cooks to prepare and attend the bills. It could easily be much going on in the area, but somehow there was a kind of finesse. The two cooks moved throughout the confines of the small space and moved as they were playing a match.
The idea of a ping pong match came up in mind in recognition of what was unfolding in the moment in the restaurant. As I was sitting, two cooks moved inside the kitchen getting ready with the orders and doing it as well. One was a veteran that was there since the beginning of the store and went outside of the kitchen limits just to get what was ordered. A couple orders of French fries and a Dr Pepper and the cook returned. The other cook crouched to put chapatti bread in a toasting iron to get it heated for a Falafel set.
When your heart is toward unity, then we can really play an amazing match together.
Sports are commonly viewed as a competition. Players compete to win. What is to win? It may be a simple question that comes up in the inquiry of a daily interaction. Though, in the perspective of daily life, winning can be to have a good day. In the current case, a good day could be to have a day where everything just flows and goes right. The right actions centers both cooks and customers. If we just zoom out a bit, we can have both parties as one. All are working together. In a way, we are trying to fulfill each other. It is like an art and a magic.
There was much unfolding before my eyes, but it was kind of a magic. It was like the two cooks played a match with customers. Though, in this case, the object of the game is to get every order correct and in satisfaction of both sides. Every customer was pleased. Many times life just goes by really fast. Waiting for our order, we wait for our meals. Before our eyes, there was a special play that occurred. It happens everyday. For the two cooks, the exchange between customer, cooks, and the store is a business practice and daily model. The day is mapped in the workings inside the kitchen area and out into the customer dining areas.
I would encourage you the next time going to a restaurant like a pizza parlor, a fast food restaurant, or even other places where you have the chance to just sit. When you sit, just be there and observe the surrounding that come before you. Little moments throughout our day are like hidden jewels, though only discovered if you are awake to the play in front of you.
Thought Lighthouse 