As you have probably noticed, many have defined Ming's recent fall at the Victoria's Secret Show as unfortunate and unprofessional, with which I totally agree.
There may be a thousand ways to court fame and fortune, but a tumble like that is definitely not one of them. Nobody, professional or not, would ever dare to dream of falling on a catwalk under the watchful eyes of the people who have paid a lot only to watch or get paid a lot more not only to watch but also to judge.Ming had no reason at all toplot or even think a tiny little bit about it before she began the show. She is undoubtedly one of the most unfortunate to have to live through this nightmare.
However, once the mishap does happen, things start to get intriguing.I guess that's what people would call DEFINING MOMENTS.
As a working female, I have first-handedly made many terrible mistakes in my career in spite of good intention and caring attitude. Sometimes despite of our earnest efforts, the swans just turn out to be geese and it often happens so fast that there's very little left to be done.
I bet you have read enough technical reviews of how Ming has handled this tumble unprofessionally. So WHAT'S THE JUDGING LINE BETWEEN PROFESSIONLISM AND UNPROFESSIONALISM IN TIMES OF CRISIS?
I'd say it's all about HOW MUCH YOU ARE EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED TO YOUR WORK.
We're always told to love what we do, while nobody has told us how and how much we should. I've learnt from my hard lessons that we should LOVE AND ONLY LOVE THE MECHANISM OF OUR WORK YET STAY ALOOF FROM WHOEVER THAT MAY BE INVOLVED IN THE MECHANISM WHATSOEVER.
Loving the mechanism would help us grasp the ideas of the work and come up with our own ways of working out the puzzle, while getting occupied by people related to the mechanism would do nothing but the opposite.
The reason is simple. When it comes to human relations, one can never be spared of the Seven Deadly Sins - Pride, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Envy, Gluttony and Lust. It's just human nature.
Taking Ming for an example. After her tumble, she took quite some time tidying up her emsemble before her peer helped her up to her feet and out of the embarassing moment. Then she tried to laugh if off in front of the audience with a LOL gesture literally. That, I'd say, is the Deadly Sin of Pride.
Instead of defending work which means trying to finish what she had started and promised to deliver, she chose to defend her Pride because her mind was entirely taken by PEOPLE rather than WORK.
I bet what's on her mind at that moment was like -
Oh my god, this is so humilating!
People are watching! This is so embarassing!
I'm so stupid! Will my boss blame me and bury me for this?
Will people laugh at me? Will they still love me?
I wish I could disappear right now right here so that I don't have to face the crowd!
Blah blah blah ... ...
While her wiser peers such as Karolina Kurkova or Miranda Kerr, as they have demonstrated previously, would think more like -
Oh my god, these shoes are killing me!
How do I keep myself from falling?
How do I suppose to look graceful in these goddamn shoes?!
Oh screw it, I'm gonna dump them!
Oh yeah! I can walk now!
See! That's a whole different mindset. When you see people, you're screwed. But when you see work, you're saved. Simple as it is.
Judging from the media tone, Ming seems to have a rough way ahead of her after this incident. Hope next time she falls, God forbid there would be more falls, she can try to be MORE CONCERNED ABOUT THE WORK BUT NOT THE PEOPLE.
