Overcoming One’s Limitations
Opticians usually have arrangements for eye-testing on the premises, so that customers can have their eyes tested and buy their spectacles all in the same shop. One of my acquaintances once opened a spectacle shop. It was rather small, certainly not big enough to permit eye-tests to be carried out, for a distance-vision chart has to be 18 feet away from the client. And this little shop was only 9 feet in length. My friend was quite unperturbed by this. When asked how he proposed to do eye-testing in such a confined space, he said, “Simple! We just fix a mirror on the wall, and there you are! The distance is doubled!” The clients could then be asked to read the chart through the mirror because the reflection would have the effect of doubling the distance. Undaunted by the acute shortage of space, this shopkeeper had shown great ingenuity in solving his problem.
This principle is applicable in most of life’s arenas. When you have limited opportunities, when your horizons seem narrow, there is no need to become a defeatist. It is simply a question of racking your brains and you will be able to “convert” your “9-foot shop” into an “18-foot shop”.
When the home you have is quite small, you can always add upper storeys to it to enlarge it. When you do not have enough resources to make investments, your basic honesty is your best guarantee of success. When you do not possess university degrees or other high qualifications, your courtesy and hard work will in large measure compensate for this. When there are no chances of overcoming your enemy by waging war against him, your wisest policy is to win his heart. When your share in political powers is a diminished one, you can still score in the economic field and achieve a different, but equally important set of objectives. When you feel you are in a weak position because your sympathizers are few in number, you can make up for this by encouraging unifying forces and striving towards efficient organization of whatever human resources are available.
Every ‘small shop’ can be converted into a ‘big shop’. A shop is small only so long as you do not use your brains to expand it. All of your limitations can be quickly overcome, provided you put to good use the natural gifts bestowed upon you by Almighty God.
