Serendipity

The dictionary explains serendipity as an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident or good fortune. For me, I can't say I've not had my share of good fortunes. But some of these turned out to be bad from hindsight, so I'm inclined to wager that most people wouldn't say they live serendipitous lives. For others, its a case of simply not recognising such moments and missing out on simple gestures of kindness that God or Lady Luck, depending on your religious persuasion, chooses to dispense to them.

Don't get me wrong, this is not an attempt at promoting my jadedness. I'm simply trying to extrapolate my personel experiences and those of my friends' to arrive at a fact of life. I won't even say its a truth for that's another matter altogether and which is eternal regardless of our circumstances. Anyway, I always joked about squandering my quota of luck during my childhood years to my friends. When I was a kid, I had the uncanny ability to come out tops in most lucky draws. But being a primary-school-going boy, the kind of lucky draws I took part in had a limited range of prizes, to say the least. My most notable win was 2 tickets to the Star Wars premiere from participating in a Walls ice cream lucky draw contest. Among my other wins were colour pencil sets, books and other scholastic essentials. Of course, they meant the world to me when I was young. But once I realise that my luck had run out in my teenage years, I really wish I had used my quota more sparingly.

Back to why I think people don't generally live serendipitous lives. It's because the world we live in today moves at such a fast pace that most of us have trouble catching up. If you spend your time catching up, i.e., knowing the latest news, developments and trends, then its almost impossible to have a serendipitous moment. If you cannot recognise such a moment for what it is because you're too caught up with moving with the flow, then you might as well not have it. For once such a moment has passed its proper place in time, then its worth and value to you would cease or at least dissipate to such a degree that its purpose is lost significantly. So if possible, try taking time out to smell the flowers. I know its very cliche, but its the only way you can stop merely existing and really live your life. I sound like I'm pontificating but all my friends agree with me on this, and its backed up by an average of 30 or so years of experience, so there you go.

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