Don’t be afraid to take a chance
By Amar Jit

THE world is full of heroes who are willing to make a heroic gamble. Are you one?

By gamble we mean if you can risk all you have to do a big job in life, to help a friend in need, to make a venture of faith or trust in your religious or spiritual life.

You say you are not a gambler. Who is not? Every time you trust a man with your friendship, you are betting on his sense of loyalty. Each person who marries is gambling — he is banking on his spouse to always remain true to him.

For this man, there is no sense in sitting for ever on the fence, or being for ever a looker-on in the game. He wants to throw in his lot with a side, to be a player on the field, to wave a banner, to shout for a cause.

The man who is willing to gamble his all in a worthy cause is the man who will eventually get somewhere. An amusing story, illustrates this.

One evening two frogs fell into a bucket of milk accidentally. The first thought: "This is the end" and he immediately sank to the bottom and was drowned. The second thought: "At any rate I will make a fight of it". He struggled and struggled all night long, and in the process the milk got churned. In the morning, he found himself sitting on rich butter!

Only an over-cautious man is not willing to take risks. This attitude can spoil even a man’s enjoyment of his own game. A gentleman who was a keen cricketer throughout his life had a taste of it.

Recalling his youth, he said that he used to worry all the week about what was going to be his score in the match on next Saturday. This, he said, cramped his style. The inevitable happened. Being afraid of getting out, he played cautiously when he should have been hitting out and knocking up a score.

We are all born with a spirit of adventure. Witness a young child who wanders away and loses himself. Have you noticed how he does not know how to turn back. He wanders on and on until, either he drops from fatigue, or some adult catches up with him takes him back.

A man should think big, take a dare, encourage himself to live on generous and dynamic lines. The way to win a battle is never to know when you are beaten and offence is the best defence.

A man who is trying to make a discovery in science must be willing to gamble. He has to formulate a working hypothesis on luck, as it were, along different lines of attack.

The person who sits back and is willing to watch the play of others without involving himself is a sick person. Or perhaps he is lacking in originality or strength, or willpower. So, as an old English saying goes, he will never set the Thames on fire.

You can be an extraordinary person if you take yourself seriously and decide to gamble on something really worthwhile. But never gamble with money. Gamble with something noble and worthwhile.

Make up your mind about what you want to do and see that it is something worth doing. Then put all your cards on the table and play towards that goats. Decide that you will no more be Mr Facing-Both-Ways, but that, keeping your goal in sight, you will look one way and march forward.

Be committed, join a cause, wave your flag, have something to fight for. The darkness is frightening but light at the other side is all the brighter by contrast. A missed opportunity may never return.