Life
is not just party and pleasure; it is also pain and despair. Unthinkable things
happen. Sometimes everything turns upside down. Bad things happen to good
people. Some things are beyond control, such as physical disability and birth
defects. We cannot choose our parents or the circumstances of our birth. So if
the ball bounced that way, sorry. But what do we do from here; cry or take the
ball and run? That is a choice we have to make.
On
a clear day, there are hundreds of boats sailing in all different directions in
a lake. How come? Even though the wind is blowing in one direction, the
sailboats are going in different directions. What is the difference? It depends
on the way the sail is set, and that is determined by the sailor. The same is
true of our lives. We can't choose the direction of the wind, but we can choose
how we set the sail.
We can choose our attitude even though we
cannot always choose our circumstances. The choice is either to act like a
victor or a victim. It is not our position but our disposition that determines
our destiny.
It takes both rain and sunshine to create a
rainbow. Our lives are no different. There is happiness and sorrow. There is
the good and the bad ; dark and bright spots. If we can handle adversity, it
only strengthens us. We cannot control all the events that happen in our lives,
but we can control how we deal with them.
Richard
Blechnyden wanted to promote Indian tea at the St. Louis World fair in 1904. It
was very hot and no one wanted to sample his tea. Blechnyden saw that all the
other iced drinks were doing flourishing business. It dawned on him to make his
tea into an iced drink, mix in sugar and sell it. He did and people loved it.
That was the introduction of iced tea to the world.
When
things go wrong, as they sometimes will, we can react responsibly or
resentfully. Human beings are not like an action which has no choice. An action
cannot decide whether to become a giant tree or to become food for the
squirrels. Human beings have choices. If nature gives us a lemon, we have a
choice: either cry or make lemonade.
