When opportunity doesn’t knock…

It’s time to stop whining and appreciate what economic instability has taught us – the initiative to create opportunities. In tough times desperate measures make sense.

There’s a “legend” of a podiatrist, who being the first to specialise in his town had to face a hard time surviving with near-to-no earnings. Realising little scope, he decided to build one. At nights, he painted rocks to make them appear like footballs. In the mornings, people mistook them for footballs, kicked them and hurt their feet. Moral of the story: When an opportunity doesn’t knock, create one.

Though meant to be a comic tale, one can relate to this concept: making others’ lives miserable to accomplish your goals. It’s a time of economic instability and such desperate measures make perfect sense.

I don’t know how common it is but in my case it happened twice at completely different locations. The tyre went flat only to find a queue of others going through the same inconvenience. It later turned out that sharp objects like nails were spread close to shops that fix punctures. So what? How do you expect a man to survive mending tyres with five bucks a car?

My eyesight changed thrice in four months. Whenever I got it tested at the optical shops, they indicated a number higher or lower than the previous one while the eye specialist diagnosed the same number every time. As my doctor puts it, telling a different number every time will boost sales, not that we care about the customer’s sight.

The new cell phone my friend bought had to be taken back to the retailer to break its code, what if at the cost of Rs250. All she did was let the salesman turn on her phone the first time it was out of the box. The default codes to open her Corby lock never worked until it was taken back.

The list of such opportunity-backed-inconveniences is long but I think it’s time to stop whining and appreciate what economic instability has taught us – creating opportunities.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2010.