Give Chance a Chance

Mar 01, 2008

021305

I was driving around the whole day trying to find a Best Buy that had an accessory I've been hunting for... I was on my third store, and gas was running very low... I sensed it would be a very grouchy Saturday.

Then suddenly.. as if God had strategically placed the billboard for me, I look up, and see the ad for the new Ipod Shuffle... Give Chance a Chance.



Do we ever leave anything to chance anymore? Ever since cell phones and palms and laptops and filofaxes were invented, we've been thriving on knowing what's next on our agenda, what's the "tentative" schedule for the day, and what's the outcome of the next occurrence. Each person has been a statistic at least one time or another. Supposed obsessive compulsive people feel the need to always be sure. But, from the famous quote, we all know that nothing is sure in this life other than death and taxes.

Routines were invented so that the probability of a mishap or an unexpected surprise will be lessened. Most of us hold on to people because we fear that what we cannot get better than what we already have. We plan our lives so we can secure a future, act a certain way so we can be assured that no conflict will ensue,... sometimes even hold back from doing something we want to do at the moment because we are uncertain of its consequences.

There is something inexplicably invigorating about not knowing what's going to happen next. A surge of excitement mixed with doubt and laced with mystery beats every inch of certainty by a long shot. When we hold back on doing something, on letting our guards down, on saying what's on our minds... it is not because we fear the unexpected. We hold back because we are afraid to give in to uncertainty. We fear those that we do not know, what we cannot explain, and who we might become. Leaving things to chance doesn't sound appealing because we are giving up control to some force we cannot fully quantify nor justify, spontaneity. The present is used to pave the way for the future, while the past is viewed as the rulebook for the present. When you really think about it.... it is only the present that matters... because that is the moment we are in.

When you realize that living for the moment beats planning for the future or remembering the past, then life becomes more meaningful. Chance is something we take for granted, yet chance is truly the only thing worth depending on. We cannot depend on the future, because it is nothing but a figment of our hopes and aspirations.

Chance allows us to wake up every day knowing that what's ahead of us is something we've never ever seen. Chance creates opportunities and restricts boundaries. Chance guarantees that each tear or smile spent is an emotion completely unique from the first time, the last time, and the next time. Chance believes in the potential of being greater, feeling deeper, and knowing more. Chance knows that nothing is more beautiful, more liberating, more exhilarating than living in the now, at this very second, in this very moment. Chance is so confident of itself, it willing to be the bearer of wonder.

Go ahead. Give chance a chance, because it is taking a chance on you.