What to Do with Our
Unequal Chance
by J. R. Miller, 1912
Some people feel that they do not have a fair chance in
life. They look at others who seem to have more advantages and fewer
hindrances, and they conclude that the allotments of providence are not just
and equal. Some young people let their minds run in this unwholesome
channel. They have to work hard and live in the plainest way, without
luxury, not enjoying opportunities for pleasure and for education that they
long for. They see other young people in easy circumstances, lacking
nothing, with no hardships to endure, called to no self-denial, living in
ease, with every opportunity for study, travel, and recreation. It is not
easy for them to avoid a feeling of envy in such circumstances. Nor
is it easy to accept the limitations of condition complacently, without any
feeling of being unfairly treated. Yet the problem to be worked out by those
who appear not to have an equal chance, is to accept their place with its
disadvantages and its inequalities, and to live just as sweetly and
cheerfully as if they were in the most luxurious circumstances.
The danger always is that we may be hurt by life in some
way. Yet nothing can really hurt us, so long as we keep love and peace in
our hearts. No hardship of any kind can do us actual harm, if we meet it
victoriously. But when we allow ourselves to chafe and fret because things
are hard, or to complain because things seem unfair, or to grow bitter
because we do not have a fair chance, that moment life is hurting us. The
worst mistake anyone can make in such a case, is to brood over what seems to
be unfairness in his lot in life, indulging the feeling that he has not been
justly dealt with. The result is that his heart grows bitter and hard, that
he begins to pity himself and to look upon others, more highly favored, with
envy, which soon grows into hatred. Nothing but harm can come out of such a
feeling. It does not reduce the inequalities in any degree. It does not make
it easier to get on. On the other hand, it spoils the life, turning its
sweetness to bitterness. It also lessens the heart's enthusiasm and
diminishes its power to live nobly.
The only worthy way to meet such a condition, is with
courage and purpose to master disadvantages. One who does this, disarms life
of all its power to do him harm, and makes even the hardships and
disadvantages, elements in his success. A hindrance conquered makes
us stronger.
When one accepts his place in life and makes it a school,
he is going to get out of it lessons which will fit him for worthy and noble
living. Handicaps become uplifts, and occasions for fine
attainment and achievement, when they are faced with courage and
determination. There is a good philosophy here for him who is wise enough to
carry it out in his life.
It is well known that the men who have risen to the
loftiest heights of excellence and have done the most for their race, have
not come as a rule from the ranks of those who have been reared in
luxury—but from among those who began in lowly ways, with few advantages and
many hindrances. The very struggles they had to make to overcome the
obstacles, lifted their feet higher on the stair. The efforts it cost them
to get an education, made men of them. Thus they easily found compensation
for the hard things in their lot in their early days.
The least worthy thing that any young fellow can do with
an unequal chance—is to allow himself to be disheartened by it and give up.
Nothing really noble or valuable is ever got easily. One does not find gold
lying about on the streets. We have to dig our way through rocks to get to
earth's treasure-houses. We always have to work hard, to achieve anything
worth achieving. An unequal chance, as it seems to human eyes,
ofttimes proves to be the very pearl of chances. It wakes up in men's souls
sleeping possibilities of energy, which never would have been awakened in
the experiences of ease.
We are not put in this world merely to have a good time,
to enjoy ourselves, to eat and drink and dress well, and move about in paths
of pleasantness. We are here to grow into the nobleness and strength of the
best manhood we can attain. He who misses this, though he lives in luxury
all his days, has missed all that is really worth while in life! Young
people should always remember, too, that in their school of life they
must do their own toiling; nobody can do it for them. There are some who
like to dream of fortunate surprises by which they shall find themselves
lifted to positions of ease and prosperity, without struggle or effort of
their own. It is not often that such surprises come, nor is it always really
"fortunate" when they do come.
A few years ago, a young man, struggling with peculiarly
hard conditions, became suddenly the possessor of a large sum of money.
Instead, however, of being good thing for him, the money proved the end of
whatever hope there was of the young man's making anything of his life. He
dropped the work which was to train him into manliness and usefulness, and
entered upon a course of ease and extravagance, which in a brief time left
him penniless and with all the high ideals of his early days of struggle
shattered.
The best thing one can do with hard conditions is to take
up his own burdens courageously and bear them. Then in carrying them he will
grow into noble manhood.