How Life Is Meaningless without Opportunities

Opportunity is defined as the favorable juncture of circumstances, and success, is the fulfilling of a given task. Now let us imagine success, without opportunities; without the opportunity to prove your worth, without the opportunity to even get a chance to attempt to work towards a goal. Life is meaningless without opportunities, and success thrives on these very opportunities.
I would like to share a story with you. One day, a young boy decided to buy a goat. After paying up, he later found out that the goat was dead. What would an ordinary person do? Regret buying that goat from a cheat and ask for a refund! But is that even close to what an opportunist would do to gain success? No! He would make the best of this situation, and raffle off this dead goat and payback the complaining winner. He is successful, because he has only one dissatisfied person to deal with and has collected the raffle money from those who didn’t win. This boy grew up to be a very successful businessman.
Let’s look back at what history has to say about this. Look at the great leaders who shaped our world and changed the face of this earth. Were they successful because they were the most idealistic, flawless individuals, full of character or because they grabbed opportunity by the throat and made the best of it? Cassius and Brutus are the perfect contrasting examples of what we are debating on today. Cassius was any day much more successful in all his plans only because he lived by the motto “when opportunity knocks on your door, strike.” Indian history has proved this time and again with ever changing opportunistic rulers.
During the Second World War, Hitler rose to power and fame utilizing each opportunity to his advantage and eventually he gained personal success. He was a puny and un-educated villager. He scaled great heights not because of his character, but because he was an opportunist. Strike when the iron is hot, not keep striking until you can finally dent it.
An opportunist is a person who we all love to hate. He is someone you just can’t ignore. Today the world is governed by such people and their progress is phenomenal. President Bush is an example of someone who has gained tremendous success only by making the best use of opportunities and circumstances-good or bad, which lay in front of him. Oh! How we all hate him, his character and maybe his personality as well, but we just can’t deny and ignore the fact that in these last few years he has gained success, fame and yes as some of you would very sarcastically add, popularity.
Today success means power, respect, fame and position. People who possess these traits thrive on opportunities, to be successful.
My worthy opponents would say that it is a big bad world and those with good character stand out and go on to become successful. But I would like to tell you that opportunity is the utilization of circumstances. One’s good character merely helps optimize an opportunity to gain an upper hand. It is only a tool and not the entire tool kit; it is just a step and not the ladder. Success is something which is achieved by utilizing opportunities in the best possible way. If you have character, utilize it to your advantage for maximizing on the opportunity to gain success.
I would like to conclude by saying, “you can make hay while the sun shines, but, only when there is the SUN.”