Page 3 - October 2017 Mag - November_SA-1

editorial

OUR
CONTRIBUTORS

Waldo Malan EDITOR
mediadirector@myriver.com

Rudi le Roux GRAPHIC DESIGNER
graphics2@myriver.com

Anadore Kenny ONLINE PUBLISHING
social@myriver.com

FROM THE Pat Kruger ADVERTISING
EDITOR advertise@myriver.com

There is a great word in the English language, that when practically implement- Publishers RIVER MEDIA
ed, make for an extremely civilized society. That word is of course “sportsman- Address: P/Bag X9027 • East London
ship.” Now, sportsmanship really speaks of an attitude we display to our fellow- 5200 • South Africa +27(0)43 711 4800
men (and for those among our readers who are very PC minded, fellowmen
includes ladies as well). We’ve all heard the oh-so-British expression (and hear it WEBSITE
with the Queen’s accent), “Be a sport, old boy!” myfaithmag.com
But more than this, sportsmanship speaks about the respect we have and dis-
play for one another, whether on the sports field or off. Good sportsmanship FACEBOOK
speaks about our consideration for those who occupy our space, and also for facebook.com/myfaithmag
the space we occupy of others.
The origin of the word (I assume) would have been from the sports arena where, TWITTER
even in a highly charged and competitive surrounding, one could accept de- twitter.com/myfaithmag
feat with a certain amount of grace. Recently, with the World Cup held in South
Africa, we had great examples of both good sportsmanship as well as poor No staff member, direct family or an advertiser
displays of attitude and behaviour. I also think that as parents (and as teachers and their direct family may participate in any of
of our future leaders) we have a tremendous responsibility towards training our MyFaith Magazine’s competitions or giveaways.
children in the art of sportsmanship. Sportsmanship, like charity, starts at home!
But sportsmanship extends into all arenas of life, doesn’t it? Would you not con- The views expressed in articles, letters, and
sider it good sportsmanship when people obey the rules of the road, stopping pictures are the responsibility of the respective
at a red traffic light for example! Gentleman standing up when a lady enters a
room, a guy standing back to allow a lady first entrance into a room (Western authors and are not necessarily those of
culture), or a guy walking into a room first to make sure the lady following him MyFaith Magazine - the acceptance of
will be safe (African cultures).
And then, of course, I think good or poor sportsmanship extends even into the advertisements does not indicate
spiritual realm; I equate sportsmanship with attitude, so the extent to which you editorial endorsement
approach life will yield the desired results. Spiritually speaking our lives can ei-
ther be ruled by fear or by faith – there is no middle ground in life. When we are
ruled by fear, our attitudes will tend to display the negativity and poor sports-
manship (rudeness, impatience, anger) will result. However, the flipside is when
we approach life with a positive attitude that is based in faith. Now faith for me
is a two-way street; it is firstly the faith we have in God and ourselves to accom-
plish things, and secondly (and equally important) the faith that God has in us!
God’s faith in us should be a motivating factor for a good attitude, after all, He
entrusted us with the message of hope and love to give to a world lost in fear
and insecurity.
So the next time we find ourselves in a situation where we are tempted to display
poor sportsmanship, perhaps it would do us well to remember that our real task
on earth is to support, encourage and build up the people around us with a
positive and love-filled message of hope.