For the most part most people easily fall prey to alluring schemes that offer an easy path to financial acquisition. It can happen to the best of us. Even the smartest people in the world are no exception. Isaac Newton was once swindled off his hard earned money and thereafter remarked to the effect that he can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies but not the madness of people. This was a direct offshoot of what had transpired. Interestingly enough is that we tend to react based on what we see in the moment and effective sales people exploit this aspect of the human nature to their advantage. They can make a killing out of a well packaged nugatory piece of scrap metal.
Back in the day an acquaintance was ensnared by the irresistible charm of a schemer. A chance encounter led to a meeting and within no time his own plans fell to the wayside. He dedicated his time and effort towards the recruitment of new members into the scheme. In as much as there was no financial happy ending, his life changed for the better. The once shabbily dressed individual morphed into one who donned official attire and did not mind one bit sticking out like a sore thumb on a Sunday afternoon in Walmart dressed in a purple suit.
In addition to impeccable dressing, he honed his persuasion skills and his master’s charm seemed to have rubbed off on him as well. This vital skill later on played a pivotal point in his life and reversed his fortunes so all was not lost. Last but not least, time keeping took on a new dimension in his life. He developed a distaste and intolerance for those who subscribed to the African time. To that end he became the timekeeper’s keeper. Not too long thereafter, we were bewildered as we watched on TV his master being bundled off to cool his heels at the county jail.
Throwing in the towel too early is also a characteristic of shortsightedness. Wooing a potential suitor and capturing someone’s attention is not for the faint of heart. I learnt this the hard way. When I was younger, I developed a liking and was drawn to a girl who lived in a different state an hour or two away. Many a times I made the trip to her household and attempted to woo her using all manner of words at my disposal. I made some headway one night. Under the evening moonlight, I promised her the world. Little did I know that it was the last conversation of that kind we would ever have.
A few days later, my attempts to reach her were rendered futile. She neither picked nor returned my calls. As a result thereof, I stopped trying and redirected my efforts elsewhere. Turns out that during the period I tried to reach out to her she was engaged in work activities. Should have known better having lived in an environment where it was commonplace to be continually engaged for close to twenty hours a day with little time left for anything else besides sleep. Got impatient. Took a detour, met someone in the process and the rest is history. In hindsight, time had the answer but my intolerance led to a different outcome which can neither be classified as good or bad. Don’t have the full details to make that determination.
In this fast and ever changing world, we have access to a vast array of information. However, it is easy to get bogged down as a result of information overload. A while back we were flooded with work email and each came with a disclaimer kindly but urgently prioritize. It became mind boggling to the extent that we lived in the present essentially trying to put out small fires that nothing significant was accomplished. The situation was almost akin to that of the medieval ages King who focused on calculating the distance between the kitchen and the bathroom that he took his eye off the ball. Granted he had reasons best known to him, it made him lose sight of the big picture and he lost big time. In as much as he had meticulously planned out the war effort details in the same fashion, instead of tracking the weather pattern at sea to turn the tide in his favor so to speak he focused on trivial tasks that proved costly.
Failing to plan fully for the future and mapping out all details as best as we can increases the chances of unintended consequences. Not all is doom and gloom though in that some unintended consequences yield unexpected benefits such as will be highlighted shortly. One day while growing up as a teenager, my friends and I bolted out of the house at the crack of dawn. I barely knew that there was a scheduled family trip set for that day. All attempts to reach me was futile since there were no mobile phones back then. As a result, I missed out on the trip and suffered yet another setback. The house was locked and I hardly knew how to cook a decent meal. I knew the theory bit but putting it to practice was yet to be determined.
When my rumbling stomach could not bear it any longer, I brought a ladder and accessed the living room through the window that had small grills. Once securely inside, I made my way to the kitchen and put together something that resembled a meal. Forgetting I was an intruder of sorts, I took a nap after the sumptuous meal. Three hours or so later, I heard the sound of a car pulling up into the driveway. It was too late to step out and the evidence was laid against the wall. The ladder was too conspicuous to hide and so I resigned to fate. It so turns out that they misplaced their set of the house keys and the spare key was inside the house where I was. I happened to be at the right place at the right time. Entering the house for me was no mean feat. The ladder and contortionist tactics got me in. I was baffled as well as to how I managed to squeeze in through the small grills. I learnt a lesson or two that day but I came through for the family at the hour of need.
Komentáře