The cards we have been dealt can be played to succeed
So take a good look at the cards life has dealt you. Are they good? Then you have a head start. If not, don’t despair. You. Can. Start. Over. Again.
What you need to know:
- If you watch carefully, you will see that some players can barely contain their excitement at the good cards they have been handed.
- Others look morose and unsure. Eventually, the game begins, and as it continues, players pick more cards, some good, some not.
- In the end, it usually doesn’t matter which cards one was given at the beginning.
“No coward soul is mine. No trembler in the world’s storm troubled sphere” Emily Bronte
Life is like a card game. In many such games, someone takes the deck, shuffles it and then hands out cards to the players. Rarely does the shuffler know which card he has given out. As soon as the players receive their cards, they begin to arrange them, trying to figure out if they have been dealt a “good” hand or not. Will their cards bring them success? Tragedy? Love? Happiness?
If you watch carefully, you will see that some players can barely contain their excitement at the good cards they have been handed. Others look morose and unsure.
Eventually, the game begins, and as it continues, players pick more cards, some good, some not. In the end, it usually doesn’t matter which cards one was given at the beginning.
The outcome is determined also by the cards one picked in the course of the game and how they played. Occasionally, the one with the worst cards wins.
HOW LIFE UNRAVELS
In many ways, life unravels like that. It all boils down to how you play the cards you have been dealt. It’s easy to sit on the sidelines of life, moaning the unfortunate circumstances you find yourself in. It’s easy to imagine that if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, then life would always treat you favourably. It’s harder to actually emotionlessly and critically examine the cards you have been dealt and then play your best hand ever. That takes the kind of grit, stubbornness and foolhardiness few of us are born with. Fortunately, we can all learn.
Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fame built a business empire at the age of 65 when most people have retired. Prior to that, he had held many insignificant jobs and had been fired from some of them. A school drop-out, he had even been declared penniless at one point, was forced to move in with his mother while his wife and children went to live with her parents. One of his early business ventures failed.
Despite all this, Sanders knew how to cook a mean chicken, and that became the backbone of his latter life success. By most accounts, Sanders was handed some terrible cards. He actually became good at cooking because his father died suddenly, forcing his mother to get a job to provide for the family. As the eldest child, Sanders had to take care of his siblings as well as cook for them.
Over time, he would hone his chicken recipe which had been borne out of a difficult period of his life. It might have looked like a terrible card when it happened. Yet Sanders played it well, and it became one of the best business success stories of the 20th century.
JOB FROM THE BIBLE
One of my favourite biblical characters is Job. In one fell swoop, he lost his wealth, children and health. His friends and wife told him he had been cursed and forgotten by God. Job sinks into depression and even rants against God. He voices the age-old question, “Why do the innocent suffer?” As far as has been humanly possible, Job has done good and been blameless.
There is nothing left for him but to curse God and die. Yet, in his utterly miserable state, Job refuses to give up on God or himself. In the end, Job’s health and wealth are restored. He even sires more children. Job had done good yet life dealt him an unkind card. As tempted as he was to give in to the negativity around him, he still clung to his faith and hope.
These two stories illustrate that we have it within us to start again long after we have been written off. Sadly, most people never do. They buy the excuses that it is too late for them.
They are too poor. They have no education. They are too old or too young. They might fail again.
F Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you are proud of. And if you are not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.” So take a good look at the cards life has dealt you. Are they good? Then you have a head start. If not, don’t despair. You. Can. Start. Over. Again.
