Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Second Chances

Have you ever considered what you would (or could) do with a second chance? Of course you have; who hasn't? The appeal of retrying an attempt with retrospective knowledge is nauseatingly powerful.

I have long maintained that all human desires are different faces to one desire - control. You want to be taller (or shorter) - but not too tall (or short). You want to know much more than you do - but not enough to kill off the excitments of learning and experience. All our desires revolve around our desire to be able to control the balance of all the variables that both make us and surround us.

Our obsession with second chances is no different - we want to control our past and perfect it. But few are those who consider the consequences of trying again critically; the huge majority are blinded by the dream of success.

Think of any skill you have ever acquired; I shall use billiards as an example. Most probably, the first time you tried to play billiards, the failure was misrabley hilarious. You try again, and the chances are either you are still as bad as you were, or have improved by a very tiny margin. A lot of practice is required before you can play comfortably, and it is the same story with second chances.

They are a lie - and a big one.

You will need much more than just a second chance; you might need a number that runs through the third significant figure. Not only that, you will also need contemplation, concentration, determination, etc. - work!

As much as I loathe the idea of it, there is no way to achieve 'it' but work, because if you reach or achieve 'it' without the hard work and back-breaking experience, you will always be greedier for more.

The only way to comprehend the awesomeness and incredibility of what you have done is to fight for it to understand the challenges and be fully soaked with the humility of your progress, which will, in turn, give you the satisfaction of self-pride and the wise hunger to steady work.

There are no shortcuts; only illusions of them.

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