We Can Make Mistakes And Still Be Great
A great mind needs just two things — opportunity and time.
“The conduct of the republican party in this nomination is a remarkable indication of small intellect, growing smaller. They pass over…statesmen and able men, and they take up a fourth rate lecturer, who cannot speak good grammar.”—The New York Herald (May 19, 1860), commenting on Abraham Lincoln’s nomination for president at the Republican National Convention.
Then, after 19 years…
“Why, if the old Greeks had had this man, what trilogies of plays—what epics—would have been made out of him! How the rhapsodes would have recited him! How quickly that quaint tall form would have enter’d into the region where men vitalize gods, and gods divinify men! But Lincoln, his times, his death—great as any, any age—belong altogether to our own.”—Walt Whitman, “Death of Abraham Lincoln,” 1879
And later…
“The greatness of Napoleon, Caesar or Washington is only moonlight by the sun of Lincoln. His example is universal and will last thousands of years…. He was bigger than his country—bigger than all the Presidents together…and as a great character he will live as long as the world lives.”—Leo Tolstoy, The World, New York, 1909.
Abraham Lincoln was nominated for president. Opportunity.
After 19 years, time passed.
Everyone who knows me knows that I never talk about life seriously for long before I nip in one or two stories about the life of the 16th American president, Abe Lincoln. He's my perfect model of greatness, his story is extraordinary yet his life is so everyday. It's a classic. And if it isn't simple, then it cannot be a classic.
I'm a simple man.
More importantly, I aspire to be a simple man.
That’s the problem — who aspires to be a simple man? Every simple man wants to be extraordinary.
It's the motivational speakers. They say everybody should be extraordinary.
The question is — if we are all extraordinary, then isn’t everybody, technically, ordinary? I doubt if they’d ever consider that.
We should love making mistakes. And it isn't that we are not thorough; the goal is to make as many mistakes as possible in the shortest time possible so that we can learn as much as possible in the shortest time possible.
But then, the question asks itself — when does one achieve what he wants to achieve if he continues making mistakes?
The answer is, well, I…don’t…know! But surely he will make slightly fewer mistakes each subsequent time and who knows?
I stand the chance of being grossly misunderstood but it's about time someone came out boldly and said that accomplishments are often eulogised — rightly so , but— too much. And I say this with the utmost respect for the many great things that many great people have accomplished throughout history. However, when we do this, we pass over a salient lesson that these stories teach — opportunity and time are paramount, and these we cannot give ourselves. They are gifts given to us by the universe. And if we make use of them as best as we can, then we will be great.
Who knows? Abraham Lincoln could have easily lost that nomination and we'd hardly talk about him today. The Apple could easily have not fallen when Newton sat in the garden and he might not have been the one to give us the law of Universal Gravitation.
My point is, while we significantly increase our chances of achieving what we seek to achieve by working at it every day, we need the universe to be on our side.
The good news is;
"When you want something (really want something), the universe conspires to help you get it" — Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist.
However, though it isn't always said, it's not every time. And we must be resigned to the fact that the universe knows best.
Perhaps, what we want isn’t made for us. Or, it’s bad for us. The incontestable truth is — the universe knows best.
“It isn’t failure if you enjoyed it” — Oprah Winfrey
So, what's the wisdom in telling a class of more than 100 young people that each one can become president if they worked hard enough when there can be at most 40 presidents in 100 years?
The opportunity to become president won't be presented to everyone. It's not that they aren't worthy, nor that they aren't hardworking enough, nor that they aren't smart enough, nor about the mistakes they made; it is just what it is.
The wisdom is to be more aware, to ask but to listen also, to make use of the opportunities and time we have as best as we can.
Usually, the opportunity to be extraordinary presents itself and when it does, we simply have to show — that is if we want to show — that we are extraordinary because we already are extraordinary. Each one of us. Therefore, we don’t have to be extraordinary to be extraordinary.
“So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” — Romans 9:16 (KJV).
