There is no free lunch

A king ordered his men to go and search the whole world for something from which people could learn wisdom.The king’s men spread all over the world and, after many years of searching, collected a few thousand such books from which people could learn wisdom. When the king saw the pile of books, he said an age is needed to read these books. The king’s men then chose hundred books from the pile that they thought were necessary for learning wisdom. For the king, they were still too many, at which his men chose ten. The king was still not satisfied, and his men had to choose one book. The king then wished to have the book reduced by removing a chapter, and then more chapters so much so that the book was reduced to only one page and then only one paragraph. The king wanted even less. Finally, the wise men carefully selected only one sentence and told the king that if people understood it, they could learn wisdom. And sentence was: “There is no free lunch.”

This is a universal truth that to get anything we have to pay for it, if we want to get anything without paying a price, we are only fooling ourselves.

Benjamin Frankel used to say that God help those who help themselves. While American Thomas Edison has said achieving success requires one per cent intelligence and ninety-nine per cent hard works. Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, the great presidents of the US, had little education, but they achieved success through hard work and continuous struggle. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was an ordinary solider in the Turkish army but he went on to become the ruler of Turkey by dint of hard work. Roman ruler Julius Caesar was epileptic but he conquered the known world. Greek philosopher Nicholas of Damascus used to stammer while talking, but he became a great orator of ancient Greek. German philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote his great philosophical books after the age of 70. French painter Claude Monet was painting his masterpieces at the age of 80. German Polymath Alexander Von Humbolt began his famous book Cosmos, at the age of 70 and completed it at the age of 90. German poet Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe wrote the second part of his book Faust at the age of 80. French author Victor Hugo wrote his play Torquemada at the age of 80. The creator of the immortal tunes, German Ludwig Van Beethoven was deaf. English poet Johan Milton wrote his masterpiece Paradise Lost when he had become blind. English poet Alexander Pope was so physically disabled that he could barely move, but he was a great figure of English literature. Franklin D Roosevelt was paralysed as a child, but he became the 32^nd US president due to his willpower and hard work. During his imprisonment, English writer John Bunyan wrote a book called The Pilgrim’s Progress, considered a masterpiece of literature.

All of the above achieved success in the presence of problems through hard work and struggle. All success stories are stories of great failure. The only difference is that every time great men fail, they try again. The only difference between success and failure is effort.

It is true that we have failed as a nation, but this failure is not the failure of the nation, but actually the failure of the policies, attitudes and thinking adopted by our the powerful among us. Because they used the greatest ability, the ability to think, in a negative way, and all the torments we are facing today are the result of their negative thinking. The nations that learn from history and keep correcting their direction finally achieve their goals. The worst crime committed against the people was that they were not allowed to think and the entire process of thinking was controlled by a few hundred opportunists and self-centred people.

American lawyer William Jennings Bryan says, “Luck is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not waited for, it is be obtained.” If you want success, you have to pay for it; and for that, you have to take the authority to think first. When you start thinking for yourself, that will be the first step towards success; and after that, hard work and struggle ensures success.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2023.

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