Knock, Knock

I have often read where a light story or joke can be a good beginning to capture the reader’s attention. Knock, knock jokes are simple and sometimes funny. Through exhaustive research for this essay I found two that made me smile.

Knock, knock
Who's there?
Matthew
Matthew who?
Matthew lace has come undone!

Knock, knock
Who's there?
Scold
Scold who?
Scold outside!

Okay, the last one isn’t that funny, but it is timely, and as everybody knows timing is everything.  Closely related to timing is opportunity. In Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language (deluxe edition) opportunity is defined as:  1. an appropriate or favorable time or occasion. 2. a situation or condition favorable for attainment of a goal. 3. a good position, chance, or prospect, as for advancement.

An opportunity can provide a job, an education, a bargain, a treasured life experience, a renewed friendship or a few extra minutes during a chaotic day. I suppose that buying lottery tickets and standing outside a bank waiting for someone to accidentally drop their money could technically fit Webster’s definition, but I want to believe there is more to it than gambling and taking advantage of another’s misfortune.

But as I think about it, I wonder how much of opportunity is luck, God’s blessing or the achievement of a well structured plan? One can have a stroke of good luck or strike out when things don’t work out as planned.

In keeping with my ever expanding list of the two ways to go through life, allow me to add two more: flexible or planned. With a planned approach there are fewer surprises because there is a plan and a goal. Whereas a life lived with a flexible attitude allows for spontaneity and may be open to more happenstance.

Some would argue that the one with the plan is better positioned to recognize an opportunity and act on it. But that can only happen if the opportunity is within the outline of the plan.

This argument has been going on for centuries. Publilius Syrus of the first, century B.C. said, “When we stop to think we often miss our opportunity.”  “Life is short, the art long, opportunity fleeting, experiment treacherous, judgment difficult,” said Hippocrates sometime in his life (460-377) B.C. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, who lived between 1754 and 1838 said, “Women sometimes forgive a man who forces the opportunity, but never a man who misses one.” He who hesitates is lost, but you should also look before you leap. 

Of course, there is risk when taking advantage of what appears to be a favorable opportunity. People can and do lose money. An invitation to invest in bullion may sound like a golden opportunity until simple research reveals it is actually Gold’n Plump chicken bouillon. A fool and his money are soon parted.

It’s easy to get burned when you are open to chance and circumstance. What if… What if a fire truck suddenly became available because it was for sale? Clearly, I don’t need a fire truck – well not yet anyway. But I have a grandson to think about, and everybody knows little boys like fire trucks. Plus the possibilities of fun and frivolity are endless.

Police officer:    All right buddy where’s the fire?

Me:                  I don’t know – that’s what I’m trying to find out.

Life is full of serendipitous circumstances if you only keep your eyes and ears open.

Knock

Was that the door? I better check as opportunity only knocks once.