OPPORTUNITY NEVER KNOCKS TWICE
"The sad truth is that opportunity doesn't knock twice. You can put things off until tomorrow but tomorrow may never come. Where will you be a few years down the line. Will it be everything you dreamed of. We seal our fate with the choices we make, but don't give a second thought to the chances we take."~ Gloria Estefan
Opportunity knocks only once said an old proverb. I believe opportunities are always plenty in this vast world, but how many of us are ready to grab that in our life…? At least how many of us are aware of the opportunities we come across in our lives…?
Family and society in which we are born are a chance given to us by creation, but what we become in life is a choice left for us. Chance is something decided upon us, which is beyond our control. Choice is something that we can decide for us, which is completely in our hands to choose. Many of us think that our life is predestined and nothing can be done beyond that.
We have all said at some point of time in our life or often hear people saying:
“It’s all fate”, “Luck is not in my side”, “According to my horoscope”, “It’s bad time for me”
Yes, it is going to be really bad time until we wake up and look for opportunities in life. Opportunity knocks our door only once. That single moment in our life comes only once and never returns. We may end up getting similar opportunities later on in time, but the one that came will never come again.
A young man wished to marry the farmer’s beautiful daughter. He went to the farmer to ask his permission. The farmer looked at him and said, “Son, go stand out in that field. I’m going to release three bulls, one at a time. If you can catch the tail of any one of the three bulls, you can marry my daughter.”
The young man stood in the field awaiting the first bull. The barn door opened and out came the biggest, meanest looking bull he had ever seen. He decided that one of the next bulls had to be a better choice than this one, so he ran over to the side and let the bull pass through.
The barn door opened again. He had never seen anything so big and fierce in his life. It stood pawing the ground, it eyed him. Whatever the next bull was like, it had to be a better choice than this one he thought. He ran to the fence and let the bull pass through.
The door opened a third time. A smile came across his face. This was the weakest bull he had ever seen. This one was his bull, he said to himself. As the bull came running by, he positioned himself just right and jumped at just the exact moment. He threw his hands to grab…..But alas…. The bull had no tail.
“When we wake up to the choices given to us,
smartly catch hold of them,
diligently work on them with sincere efforts,
surely we will achieve great things in this world.”
smartly catch hold of them,
diligently work on them with sincere efforts,
surely we will achieve great things in this world.”
The famous line from the poem Maud Muller is the perfect example of this proverb.
"Maud Muller" is a poem from 1856 written by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). It is about a beautiful maid named Maud Muller. One day, while harvesting hay, she meets a judge from the local town. Each is smitten with the other. The judge thinks that he would like to be a local farmer married to Maud, while she thinks that she would like to be the wealthy judge's wife.
Neither voices these thoughts, however, and both the judge and the maiden move on. The judge marries a woman of wealth whose love for him is based on his riches. Maud Muller marries a young uneducated farmer. Throughout the rest of their lives, each remembers the day of their meeting and remorsefully reflects on what might have been.
This poem contains the well-known quotation:
"For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'"
At the end of the day we are left to wonder what exactly did we achieve. We might scoff at an opportunity that is right in front of us giving an explanation saying we have better things to do. as soon as the chance passes us by, we immediately regret our decision and make up our mind that no matter what, the next time anything happens, no matter what it is, we'll grab it with both hands... Only to waste it again.
Not all beginnings or opportunities are glamorous. Apple Inc started their incredible journey to the best in the world from the parking garage of Steve Jobs' house. Each time anything occurs, or an opportunity comes passing by,
remember it might never pass us again.
ASHISH ABRAHAM JACOB
