Your Key - Part 1

One of our most appreciated words, and a word I personally love to use, is opportunity. We often say that opportunities define a person, and of course, the New World was often and still is referred to as the “Land of Opportunity”. It is a very positive word – Harper characteristically called the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis a buying opportunity. It is also a sign of promise – and well, humans love anything we can land our hands upon.

And with the topic of opportunity, one of my favourite analogies and phrases involves, well, doors. “The Door is Always Open” – a quote that I’ve said a good number of times, and for a good number of reasons – clearly because opportunity is everywhere.

But I’m going to think more like Cassius and take a realist swing somewhere around here, though I try to breed my personal idealism. If life was a hallway to represent our lives and there were an extraordinary number of doors (let’s say infinite =D), there are two problems that we will face.

First of all, we are not able to enter each door, to take every opportunity; there is simply not enough time, not enough energy, and well – our telomeres are not long enough. But this is perhaps a vital “problem” – our constant dilemma at the forks of the road – decision making, making choices. There’s that quote from Harry Potter – “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."” – Albus Dumbledore.

Decision making is a huge part of our lives – for those who just entering university for the first time, or are about to apply – this has probably been the most significant series of choices you’ve made – and over the next couple years, these decisions, these opportunities – will increase in frequency and magnitude. But it’s through choosing these opportunities we define the path of our journey, our doors, our lives, and define who we are.

Decision making also brings hardships into our lives – choosing those doors can be incredibly difficult, and ultimately, our resultant tracks are marked with swerves, U-turns, and endless loops. The hardest part of choosing our defining doors is deciding to ignore the other paths – deciding which way to follow and what our priorities are – but as I’ve alluded before – it’s never easy to make priorities.

This hallway has no definite end, no door named success – only a path named after you. And so what – if I’ve spent a good part of my time circling around, that is a part of who I am, and that’s what I believe is what counts – distance, not displacement. The doors are everywhere, awaiting your arrival – all we have to do is step forward; forward in determination, growth, and building ourselves.

Okay – then there’s the second problem, though it’s arguable whether they are problems if I keep on turning the train back around. Anyways, I’m going to do the really cheap and short-sighted thing to do, via Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and split this long note that could’ve been written shorter, more concise, and much better – into two halves =P.

Someone hold the door?