"It just shows you what the Australian public is like. They're very forgiving, and very, very understanding, very embracing of people who've had hardships. We're still that country of battlers, even though we're very wealthy compared to the rest of the world in a lot of ways. She's a battler and you're proud if you're Australian to see something like that. It's pretty emotional stuff, I think."
This is Peter McNamara’s brave description of the Australian public regarding Jelena Dokic. In some ways it’s quite an accurate assessment. We are forgiving. If a sportsman makes a mistake, professionally or personally, he or she can expect forgiveness. It just takes a while. First comes speculation. Gossip, hearsay and cruel media lies. The giddy excitement of seeing a hero fall suddenly from grace.
Then comes judgment. Media commentators and the ‘public’ fight valiantly to preserve Australian morality. Sportspeople are role models after all, and so their every action is public property. Remember that for a time Dokic was Australian tennis’ anti-hero. A greedy villain who used millions of our tax dollars for junior development (she was a battler too) only to take her talents and betray us. Oh, and then comes forgiveness.
Most of all, the ‘public’ just has a short memory. Those rejoicing in this great Aussie success story were probably the same rabid fans that stood in cruel judgment of Jelena a few years ago. Perhaps we, the public, shouldn't be so self satisfied with our forgiving and open minded attitude. Perhaps we should just be happy that those stars that we have forgiven forgive us.
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