ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY
In the February 1987 issue of Reader’s Digest, an article was published titled “Dare to Change Your Life.” The article shares several stories where people initially faced failure, losses, and hardships. Despite these setbacks, they did not give up hope. Even after missing one chance, they stayed focused on the next opportunity. This smart approach worked, helping them find success after an initial failure.
At the end of the article, the author states that life is full of second chances. What it takes to seize these opportunities is simply the ability to recognize them and the courage to act on them:
“Life is full of second chances. All we need for a second chance is the ability to recognize it and the courage to act.”
Life is about seizing second chances. This truth applies equally to individuals and nations. History confirms this. In the early days, Islam had no opportunity in Makkah. However, by making the most of the opportunity in Madinah, Islam created its history. Similarly, Western nations, unable to seize opportunities during the Crusades, later succeeded by taking advantage of intellectual opportunities.
In the present world, it often happens that a person misses the first opportunity, sometimes due to lack of experience and other times because of others’ opposition. However, missing the first chance doesn’t mean losing all opportunities. If a person doesn’t get discouraged after losing the initial chance, they will soon find a second chance, which, if used wisely, can lead them back to their goal.
It’s unwise to try to take opportunities that others have already claimed. Wisdom is in focusing on the remaining chances.
The situation can also be understood through the example of Japan. A report with a New York dateline, titled “Japan’s Bid to Excel the U.S. in Supercomputers,” which was reproduced in The Times of India (April 13, 1989, Section 2, Page 4), casts serious doubt on America’s ability to maintain its lead in the field of supercomputers. Despite the United States’ long-standing dominance in this area, it is expected that by 1990, Japan will surpass it by launching the fastest supercomputer in the world, which will be introduced to global markets. This grim outlook is further corroborated by a recent study conducted by analysts at an American computer corporation.
The Japanese computer, named SX-X, can perform 20 billion operations of scientific calculations in one second flat. At this rate, it is 25 percent faster than the fastest American computer. Besides its perfect performance, it has another speciality: its relative cheapness.
This supercomputer has a key role to play not only in scientific research, oil exploration, weather forecasting etc., but also in national security, particularly in the field of nuclear weaponry.
America may have destroyed Japan in 1945 with its ‘super bomb,’ but it could not take away Japan’s potential. With its computers, and now this latest supercomputers, Japan revolutionized its own economy in a mere matter of 45 years. Destruction, however massive, can never put an end to opportunities for construction. And the power of construction undoubtedly far exceeds that of destruction.
