A Sudden Sense of Anger Overwhelmed Me

Just overheard a conversation about Faiz Subri's speech during he FIFA Puska Award across the table in a coffee shop . It was the review and endorsement of several articles in social media and news portals written to ridicule Faiz' speech.

A sudden sense of anger overwhelmed me. This is why.

My recent speech -- delivered in 95percent English and splatterings of what's left of the French i have, as well as in fancophone Burkina Faso -- while sat next to the nation's President was an enlightening experience.

Whilst the thunderous applause was flattering, and the 'clap-trappers'- mostly in French - were indeed well responded to, i wouldn't be so sure it was blanket approval.

I'm almost certain some would question why, as the president of the world's largest youth political organisation in the world, i couldn't speak French fluently. And why the very little French that I spoke was of such poor quality.

English is spoken by some 350 million people around the world, whereas French is by about 300 million. With French being the official language and spoken in, or is the official language in 53 countries, the question is one that is valid. After all, my 'core business' is indeed communication, with words and speech.

For the record though, I do speak Chinese (and several of its dialects) fluently, though I fall short with Spanish and Hindi, the other most widely spoken languages in the world. But my French sucks.

Though surprisingly, I was neither attacked by the audience, nor the local media. In fact I received praises beyond the applause. Not like our football hero, Faiz who delivered his entire speech in English. Faiz does not speak or write English for a living. He doesn't even speak publicly for a living. He plays football for a living.

He didn't win an award in English debate nor public speaking. His profession is in practicing the beautiful sport. His 'core business' is hitting the back of the net by kicking footballs in ways in which most of the human population couldn't imagine. He did his sport, his teammates and his country proud by doing his job beautifully- that is what he was recognised for.

For those who judged Faiz for being ill prepared, or for his less-than-sufficient command of English, and have publicly aired such criticisms with bigoted panache and a strong measure of superiority complex; get a grip and get a life.

When you are asked to play 90 minutes of footbal in front a global televised audience at Faiz' level the next time you win an award for your immaculately written article or Obama-esque speech, then I would consider retracting this.

Or I might just write an article to ridicule your performance on the field, and see how you like it.