Reflections: Short Notes 2

 

We learn from our mistakes/experiences!

There are times we are ridiculed because of an apparent lack of experience in performing a certain task. But, we should not be discouraged or dejected. When we learn from our mistakes, we are wiser and better off. We all started from somewhere. Whatever skills you have now, you learnt it from somewhere. You were not born with it. At the beginning we all sulked at the things we did. For instance, remember when children learn how to walk and how to talk. As we grew older, remember how we learnt reading, drawing, riding a bike, etc. How many times we failed before we became better? But we persisted and later became masters of the craft. I remember there were things I did that once aroused laughter but when I do the same things now they arouse applause of approval. So, do you sulk at what you do now? Do people laugh at you as a result? Don't be deterred. Persist without letup. Someday, you'll be the 'Oga' (Master) of the act.

You the one that is so proud and pompous because you are good at what you do, ridiculing others for their ineptitude, remember you were not born with those skills; once upon a time, you were just like the inexperienced one, a neophyte so to speak. Remember, someday the student will become a teacher and may even be better than his teachers.

So, we are not giving up. Tomorrow we won't make the same mistakes we made today. Yes, God willing tomorrow will be better.

On a side note, what makes us human is not being the best of who or what we are, what makes us human is the mistakes we make. Every man makes a mistake. If there's one who doesn't make a mistake, that one is not human. What matters more is not trying not to make mistakes but what you do with the mistakes you make. The best of men are those who learn from their mistakes, not those who don't make them. After all, it's often said that to err is human, but to forgive is divine.

 

Lance Armstrong

I was one of those who believed that he did not cheat his way to success. Think of it: How would a man who beat cancer and shone against all odds be a cheater in sports. Well, surprise surprise, as he admitted eventually at the Oprah Winfrey’s interview, he doped and cheated in all of his 7 Tour de France wins. Maybe, just maybe, he could have won without cheating. But now, we will never know. He will never know. Sometimes in life, we have great opportunities to prove our true worth; to gain the refreshing satisfaction of working hard and achieving honest and well-deserved success without cheating or cutting corners. If we miss that opportunity of showing what we truly are and what we can really achieve, we would have missed an enormous opportunity: we will never know if we could have done it on our own natural abilities. What ignorance!

The Bolt Phenomenon!

William Shakespeare wrote in the Twelfth Night:

“Be not afraid of greatness:
Some are born great,
Some achieve greatness and
Some have greatness thrust upon them.”

Borrowing from such words of greatness,
I humbly submit:

“While many achieve greatness,
A few define or redefine what greatness is!”

Usain St. Leo Bolt is a sterling example of those who’ve redefined what greatness is. The typical 100 metres sprinter is of average height and stout built. Tall, lanky Bolt does not fit the profile. Yet with a height of 1.95 metres (6 feet 5 inches) and slim built, Bolt defied the odds and rewrote the science of athletics in becoming the fastest man alive. Like the Brazilian Ronaldo de Lima in the heyday of his football career, Bolt is nothing but a phenomenon that is still unraveling. Kudos to a legend extraordinaire!

On a side note, let me say this: ‘I’m not remembered because I did everything right. I’m remembered because I did not allow the fear of being wrong or the fears of failure deter me from doing what I thought was right.’

A concerned Patient!

 

A patient went to a hospital and spent so much time telling the doctor so many complaints. When he finished, he was expecting a long list of drugs. Alas, he got a few vitamins and pain relief drugs. He thought to himself: ‘These few drugs for all the complaints I made.’ Another day, he went to the same doctor and he had fewer and specific complaints. To his surprise, the doctor wrote so many drugs for him. He was concerned. So, he went back to the doctor to complain:

Patient: Please, doctor last time I came, I gave you many complaints and yet you gave me a few drugs. Today, I had a few complaints and yet you gave me so many drugs. Why?

Doctor: Last time you came, you didn't know what was wrong with you and hence I didn't know what to write for you except a few vitamins. But today, you knew what was wrong and I knew what to treat you for.

Lesson: We often ask for help from ours who are in a position to help. There are times when we don’t know what we want but we ask anyway. Even when the other person wants to help, he/she is not clear on what to do to help. Before asking for help, it helps to have a grasp of what the problem is. Be clear in your mind what the problem is and what you need. Don’t just ask for the sake of asking. Even when we pray for God to help, we should be specific on what we want. By so doing, we may not get everything we want but it helps anyway.

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