Ripple Effect - How one heated moment dashed the hopes of a nation

On 4th February, 2007 Shahid Afridi, on his way back to the pavilion shoved his bat towards an unruly spectator during a Pakistan v SA cricket match.

This lead to a 4 match ban on one of our star cricketers. Missing from the first two ODI's in the World Cup, he was not a part of the disaster that has shaken a nation.

Yesterday, we lost to Ireland - not even a full-status cricket playing nation. This ended Pakistan's World Cup hopes. Cricinfo - 9th Match, Group D: Ireland v Pakistan at Kingston, Mar 17, 2007.

Who knows how much this will demoralize our nation, and who can measure the productivity our people will have lost and what this lost productivity will translate into.

One moment of restraint and Shahid Afridi could have come to Pakistan's rescue. This would have been so much different. We would have had an energized Pakistan.

Lets hope that there is some person making a positive contribution somewhere in the world every moment from now, and lets pray that the ripples from those contributions keep forming. For it is these ripples that keep the world spinning.