I already wrote about chances here, but at that time I had no idea what i was talking about. I was naive, I didn't know how big the World was/is. Now, because I was forced to grow up, I have a new perspective of things.
Chances come and chances go. We may have second chances, but they're not the same. We might have a chance to buy a new car, and we don't take it. Some time after we buy that car and we have two ways of thinking: I'm glad I just bought the car now; Why didn't I buy the car earlier? And what ever we think, we don't know what would have been the outcome of taking the first chance to buy it. We don't know if we would have had an accident if we took the first chance, or if we would have had the possibility to save/help someone with that car if we had took the first chance. We chance our destiny when we choose to take or not to take the chance we have. And the consequences of the way we didn't choose are only suppositions of what might have happen.
A few years ago I had a chance of going abroad. We had a cousin having dinner with us, a very successful man from USA. And he was telling me and my brother how did he end up in USA, how his life started there. And he began to say: "I was introduced to a person, that later became my mentor and he is the reason for a lot of what I achieved until today." I knew what those words meant. Later, after dinner, I spoke to my father and I said: "He was saying he can be my mentor." I knew it, 100% sure that he could be to us, what that man once represented to him. I never had an invitation like that. I started to think about the hole conversation we had during dinner, all the details he said, and I was astonished with the proposition that was made to me, indirectly. I had the chance to go to florida, with one of the best mentors I could think of. I had to take it, but unfortunately I didn't do it. I was young, I had 15 years, and although I had the perception of how big that was, I didn't put myself into it. I didn't realize that chances like that don't happen again. A few months later, he became ill, and ended up passing away. There are no second chances...
A few months ago I wrote here that I was going to fly away. Going after the quintessence of life. I had many projects, many ideas: Vietnam, Australia, Germany... After a while, an opportunity came up. Giving English lessons in a college, in Indonesia. That sounded just great! The timing was right, the place was right, everything sounded too good to be true. I started to make all the arrangements needed, I came on contact with the locals that were taking care of my application, (they were fantastic BTW), took my passport... I was feeling that I already had one foot there and one foot here. Last week, I got an e-mail from them saying due to superveniente complications with the application of a new law, it would be impossible for them to accept foreign people to the position I was going to take. I got devastated. Mainly because, as we say in portuguese, I had put the wagon in front of the ox. I was already thinking I had a foot there and another here. That was my mistake. Opportunities and chances are no more than that. There's a mere possibility of happening. And we should be prepared for both outcomes, happening or not happening.
This was not a second chance. As I said, there are no second chances. This was a new one, and I'm glad I took it this time. It doesn't matter if it didn't happen. There will be more chances and opportunities! I just know there will be...
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