Yet another announcement. Now for the 3rd position. Amy looked up with hope. Awful, this time again the 10-year-old, had to clap for one more fellow competitor. Her face went pale. Her mother looked at her, gently touched her head. The 4th position was announced for a girl of some other school. Amy looked down once again. A soft voice stirred her up. “Clap Amy”. It was her father smiling at her. Amy clapped with disappointed at heart.
“The award for the 5th position goes to Amy.”
Amy’s parents were overjoyed at the announcement. A faint smile on Amy’s face.
The family returned home. It was late evening, they were tired.
Amy could not speak at dinner table. “What happened Amy?”
Gush of warm tears rolled down her cheeks. She could not reply to her mother, wept bitterly.
Her parents were silent, they could probably understand.
Amy spoke almost after 30 minutes.
“I will never participate in any competition again. I worked hard, prepared well, and delivered my best but I stood fifth. You both were wrong. I don’t think hard work is the pillar of success.” Amy burst out in tears and cried out loud in despair.
Absolute silence in the room for almost 5 minutes.
Her father, Rohan, an engineer by profession broke the silence. “Amy my dear, your performance was excellent today. You stood fifth among 200 interschool participants in the story telling competition. You are one of the top 5 participants. We are proud of you. Your hard work and perseverance were rewarded.”
Amy looked at her father, her face looked eager to hear more.
Rohan, continued, “Have you not seen your mother and me working till late hours? You need not top a competition to prove your efforts. Even after hours of hard work, all your efforts might turn futile. We must work hard to give our best to stay in the race.”
Amy’s mother, Sree was listening silently. She has seen uncertainties in her career despite all the hard work and diligence she has put through. Sree has always been strong to handle her emotions and learn through her experiences.
Sree was trying to join the dots.
“Amy dear”, Sree spoke tenderly. “Don’t be upset. There are situations in our life which are beyond our control. The kids who ranked the top four might or might not have done as much as hard work you did. Even the ones who were among the bottom few ranks might have tried harder than you did and might be more capable than the toppers. There are multiple factors that determine success.”
Amy looked at her mother with curiosity.
“Amy, provided you did not work so hard, you would not have presented so well. Even the position you secured would have been far from reach. The performance of other competitors, the experience and understanding of the judges, your delivery on the moment, your content and many more such aspects play deterministic role in a competition. You have successfully performed well.”
Sree paused for a while and looked at her daughter’ glowing face.
“Success is not determined by a rank or by immediate gains. You have successfully gained experiences and have learnt several new concepts. Hard work makes you active at mind and helps you learn better. You must look forward and prepare for upcoming challenges. Life is full of twists and turns, and you must gracefully adapt to every situation in life.”
Sree smiled.
“You should know how to tackle each moment life unfolds to you. Remember Amy don’t just ask why but try to deal with every situation.”
Amy smiled. She was listening carefully until this time. That day indeed changed her life.
Amy is now in her late thirties and works for an MNC. Life has shown her how to stay confident and how to accept the uncertain turns.
Today, when Amy received her promotion letter on email, she was overjoyed. I could see her eyes glittered. She is my roommate; you may also call her my soulmate.
I found her speaking to her parents on a phone call.
In the afternoon we were sitting in the balcony of our hostel room. When I congratulated her, Amy narrated the story of the 10-year-old Amy. She smiled and said, “I have faced wins and failures in multiple competitions, have experienced multiple instabilities in my education and profession, have confronted moments of separations, but have always tried not to just ask why, not to just give up, but deal with the unfavourable situations and to embrace the favourable ones.”
I was thrilled. “Your promotion is just one more experience and life wants you to deal with it.” Amy smiled.
A Reader's Corner 