was one of the earliest influence of my adolescent. It was part of a song titled 'Salvation' by Luba. Sweet memories of when I got to watch her live performance at Ontario Place. Ever since, I sought to look for the opportunities behind the challenges that life threw at me. We all will probably agree and some would have had positively experienced the proverb:
"behind every problem, lies an opportunity" - anonymous.
In these couple of weeks, there has been several people whom I've known who has passed away. Especially in times like these, Luba's lyrics would frequently fill my head. So I guess the next logical thought would be to ask ourselves, what's the opportunity behind a death? Who gains from such a grievance?
We live in a world where most scenarios are a 'zero-sum' game. Our resources are limited. When one dies, it opens the door to the young who's fighting for resources to survive. This is more evident in other species. Imagine kangaroos that don't grow old and die, can't imagine the poor Aussies. When we die, we make space for the young, we release wealth and other resources that the young can use to survive. There's just isn't adequate resources if nobody dies. So, everybody dies. Eventually.
That brings us to another 'opportunity', that is to cherish our ones still alive. To make that everyday count. To live. To remind us that life is too precious and too short to waste. We cherish the ones who has passed on, but let this be a reminder to cherish the ones still by our side.
Back to a more interesting 'logical extension' to this proverb. In our 'zero-sum' game, if the proverb "behind every problem, lies an opportunity" is true, so will the reverse!
"behind every opportunity, lies a problem"
The "problem" will more accurately be understood in terms of 'cost' and it may take the varying forms, like financial cost, envy from others, complacency, effort, time, denying others of success, etc...
This is something we don't normally consider. For every win or accomplishment we've made, what's the actual cost to me and to the world we live in? If we search hard enough, we'll find it. And this may be the very reason for the current state of our economy, environment and society.
This can be applied to us individually and even to organizations. When we get more successful, we naturally get more complacent. It takes a conscious effort not to - and this is part of the cost. When we win a race, we're denying someone else of that place, probably creating envy and such. When we made some money in the stock market, its someone else who loses. When countries develop, it costs the environment.
A recent Krugman article caught my attention about the 'cost' of rescuing the economy. We're in our current state because we've been so good at doing well economically, we've managed to bypass good governance and sound practices. These things need to correct itself. Some naturally, some through policy changes. Artificially rescuing the economy alone isn't going to save us from similar problems in the future.
The next time we're going in for the kill and while we're building our success, remember to consider and understand the consequences of our own success.
Monday, Oct 12 2009
