The Lucky Ones

"...But being the best is not enough"

—Reuven Frank, 

NBC News President circa 1983

I think in each class there are 2 kinds of students: those who care and those who don't, or rarely care. Those who care can be divided into two: the lucky ones and the not much lucky ones.

Who am I to tell you this? It's just an idea from my mind, theoretical, and can be rejected. Just let me share it to you, because I’ve found something here for all of us to take note.

The lucky ones successfully reach the finish line before any other else. They are those who get to finish first. They ace the tests and achieve almost each and every seatwork, homework, and project. They're brilliant, of course, unless they're the ones who memorize instead of understanding. There may be some downs, but they are minor. Thus, they're all-time winners, in my own opinion. And what seems incredible to them is that they have the strength to do it all. It thus makes me wonder, how do they do it? Discover Channel may not answer it, though.

The unfortunate? They work. They work hard. However, they work hard too late. They are those who fall a lot of times, after numerous trials. They work in a trial-and-error method. They’re blessed with diligence, but sometimes they lose it, and sometimes time is what they lack. They win at some time, but soon they become unfortunate. They lose frequently.

But they don’t give up. They may be exasperated, but they don’t stop, because there’s no other option. They accept how human they are. And by every setback, they’re humbled.

The lucky ones may be humbled, too. But in an unfortunate’s eyes, they’re lucky, and they brag about it. Envy, that’s the word.

At some time I am the lucky one, sometimes I’m not. But I feel I’m always unfortunate. I do work hard. But, I’m not as “blessed” as them. There’s a reason why.

I procrastinated, and I regretted it. I let time pass by without running, without doing what can be done when there was time. But I deserve the consequences. I have to pay the price. So sad to know, but I have to know. I have to learn the lessons over and over again.

Again, this piece is a figment of my imagination. Classifying a class like this seems weird. But isn’t this somewhat true? Isn’t it true that there are those who win all the time, and there are those who fail almost everytime? That there’s a Philippines while there’s a Timor Leste(no offense, dear neighbor)?

This is out of my madness, out of desperation for a “light that never comes”.

But in reality, are there really lucky ones and unlucky ones? Are blessings destined to a chosen few? Are good grades, or productivity, appointed to only certain people? Not at all. Anybody can.

Yes, there are blessings and misfortune, but there’s no luck, only consequences.

Either we succeed or fail, either we get work done like an early bird or suffer cramming, it’s all a product of our choices.

We fail and we fall, but behind those mishaps are lessons to help us face the reality of life as we grow older and enter new levels of the game we’re playing (in my terms, academics). Failing is a part of life, and it is painful or disappointing at some point. But we can start again, with the lessons we have learned, with better and wiser choices.

Alongside that, we have to remember that despite of encountering misfortune, we’re still blessed. I suggest one to be thankful for: life. Not-so-good times may come, but I’ll better think of the lessons as blessings rather than drown myself in sadness for a long time (Don’t worry, being sad is natural. Just don’t stay that way for a long time...).

If we want to get better next time, we need not envy the others whom we feel are better than us. Let’s remain humble. Let’s not give up. It’s not late to try again. We just have to keep on going, keep on doing.

We try and try, and so we learn. And after learning the right way, together with using our guts, hopefully we’ll get to do schoolwork better and earlier. And so we can finally call ourselves blessed. 

No more lucky or unlucky ones. Only people deserving what they have worked for.

PS: I apologize if I appeared to be judgmental. I hope I’ve boiled everything down to a good and humble conclusion. Drop a comment if you have something to say. You may also e-mail me.