Nobody Gives You A Chance — You Have To Take Chances
Two presidents.
The first one makes us question his skin tone. Is it yellow or white? The hair doesn’t help. But when he pouts his mouth and holds his hand, you know he owns the famous Trump Towers.
Donald J. Trump, despite all the backlash he gets, has qualities about him I admire. These are qualities I see in different kingdoms of life. I’ll focus on his ability to seize a chance when he sees it.
When he sees it.
Note the emphasis.
Before running for the presidency, he was a businessman. I knew about him from the weekly KTN show, The Apprentice. I wasn’t a fan of how he fired people, especially those I rooted for, but we always looked forward to the famous catchphrase — You’re fired!
He took a chance with arguably the most powerful seat in the world when everybody thought he couldn’t do it. The chance was not handed to him. He took it.
I got to wonder where Trevor Noah would get his content when Trump left office. Trevor would often make a mockery of Trump’s presidential tenure and get paid for doing it. The 45th president of the USA, however, took a chance when nobody else believed he could seize it.
Once he was at the helm, he began a campaign to tarnish the other president, who was just as bold.
He won a Nobel Peace Prize, but Trump was on a war path to destroy him. The legacy of Barack Obama is pristine in comparison. At least, from where I stand.
There had never been a black US president, but did he stop at that? Did he wait until he was handed the chance? If that were so, that seat would never embrace the butt cheeks of a black man.
Barack did not wait for the chance to be handed out to him. He took it. He made history.
I remember how happy my mother was when he won the elections. It was a relief after our country was broken after the post-election violence. More memorable was how the countries that had vowed never to engage in international politics and even more specifically, US politics, expressed unfettered jubilation after Obama won.
His second run was one fraught with tight sphincters from every corner of the globe. He took a chance not once, but twice. And Mitt Romney gave him a run for his money and a test for his will. He stuck with his initial philosophy: Yes you can.
You can almost hear the classic song by Abba playing in the background:
Take a chance, take a chance
Two opposite personalities. Two leaders. The two things they share are the seats they occupied as presidents and the fact that they took a chance on themselves when history dictated otherwise.
Your family tree, I will break branches
Presidents are a unique lot.
Imagine running a family. It is hectic. Now imagine running a company. Without strong leadership, system structures to keep it running, and a board that is willing to say no even when the deal is life-changing, it can be hell being its reference point.
What of a country?
That’s just hyped delusion. First, you convince yourself that you can run the country, then start a nationwide campaign to convince the masses about the same. Something’s wrong somewhere.
It’s possible.
But these are the qualities of all known life forms.
Consider the mysterious life of the Wolbachia. It is one of the most successful bacteria, capable of forming peace treaties with so many insects. For a creature of its size, who would have thought they could be beneficial?
Filarial worms cannot survive without these bacteria. They are a crucial part of the reproduction and survival mechanisms of these worms. Evidence for their reliance on the bacteria was the use of targeted antibiotics which after killing the bacteria consequently ended the life of the worms.
Who would have predicted that a simple bacterium could broker a deal with a giant worm, relative to its size? This special bacteria did not wait for a chance to be handed to it. It took a chance.
Why?
Because nature annihilates.
If you wait for nature to hand it to you via mailbox, in an unfolded envelope, or in a pristine and well-packaged box, I wish you all the best. You can send me your postal address so I can mail you a success card.
Nature doesn’t care. This is what it has to say about you and your family tree:
Your family tree, I will break branches
So you have to take the example of the Wolbachia spp. Take the chance because nature won’t give it.
Yesterday died, tomorrow never cried, the days of our lives
Now think about all the people who never took a chance.
The list is not that long. Do you even remember them? I have only mentioned one bacterium which took a chance on itself millions of years ago and we’re still talking about its unmatched negotiation skills.
Those who never took a chance are nowhere. Not to be seen or heard. They died, that is, if they existed at all. You cannot exist in the first place if you never take a chance on yourself.
Congenital diseases are the kind we are born with from birth. Some are debilitating. Consider brittle bone disease (osteogenesis imperfecta). From the name, osteo- means bone, -genesis is the beginning, and -imperfecta is a giveaway. This disease reveals how from the very beginning, the bone is imperfect.
It easily breaks. But the children born with it take a chance. From the start, it was not handed to them. They took the chance.
Life is impossible without taking chances.
I consider particles to be organisms because they took a chance on themselves. They would otherwise be annihilated, but they still decide to stick around. From a probability standpoint, we are all going to die. Everything is gradually headed there.
Despite this, we take the chance.
Those that don’t are not remembered. They did not die neither did they exist. When Lil Wayne says:
Yesterday died, tomorrow never cried
He talks about the days of our lives. You’re alive because you took a chance. Tomorrow doesn’t cry because of someone who never took a chance. Why cry over something that didn’t exist in the first place?
Organisms try to avoid annihilation. They take any opportunity to do that. It could be forging alliances with worms or standing for elections when the country doesn’t believe in you.
I am certain a good number of people considered this possibility — what if we elect Trump and just see what he would do?
Entertaining this possibility manifests because the guy, Trump, took the chance.
What I’m trying to say is…
Nature annihilates. Organisms select how they escape this annihilation.
Everybody dies.
Gorillas in suits The holy war, the spiritual troops Fighting over the mythical truth Drowning in the political soup They shoot missiles and nukes Taking out such a pivotal group The body count is the physical proof And they thought drugs were killing the youth
This has been the history of nature. But speckled in this morbid tale, are the organisms who took a chance on themselves.
Wolbachia spp, Trump, and Obama made their way into history books. You will read or hear about them but who will read or hear about you?
But don’t take all of the chances you get. Start with one. And do it at least twice.
Like Abba, take a chance.
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