A Message of Hope

For example, a person was born in a landowning family in a village. In 1925, his father died when he was only six years old. After his father’s death, the family took over the property. Apart from a small house, nothing was left for him. Forced by circumstances, at the age of ten he went out to earn a living. He left the village and went to the city. For many years, he worked as a labourer. Eventually, circumstances placed him in a craft trade. Through hard work, he progressed and eventually opened a factory. His progress continued, and when he died at the age of 70, he was a leading industrialist, leaving behind property worth millions. If hardship had not come his way—if he had inherited all the family fields—he would have remained occupied in farming. He would have lived and died as a farmer. But hardship and loss lifted him higher. His bitter experiences took him out of the agricultural age and into the industrial age. The opportunities available to a human being in this world are limitless. Whenever one opportunity ends, an even greater one appears in its place. Why, then, should a person lose hope? Why lament or protest over a setback? Why not seize the new opportunity that can turn one’s dusk once again into a bright dawn? When an opportunity slips away, one should not waste time mourning what is lost. Instead, they should find and seize the next opportunity. It might even be that through this effort, they achieve greater success than before.