MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

“Our lives are shaped by opportunities, even the ones that we missed”

This quote strikes a chord in the deep recesses of my heart. I heard it only once in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” but it left me pondering for its poignancy and raw truth.

I have a friend, who lives quite near my house. He is a good friend of mine. A likeable warm, normal human being. The thing that sets him apart though is that he has a condition called seizure or more commonly known in Malaysia as “sawan”.

Due to this health condition, at times he had to forego education opportunities. His dream, he told me was to become a food scientist working with the Islamic Department. He is quite religious, a devout Muslim. And his interest lies in the sciences. And so, he applied to study food sciences in “Politeknik”.

He received an offer but there was a problem. The only polytechnic that offers the course is situated in Pahang, hundreds of kilometres from where he is staying.

Initially, he went to the new place with vigour. His family, though slightly cautious, supports him nonetheless. A couple of weeks went by without much drama. Then, he had a seizure attack. He was forced to transfer his studies to a polytechnic nearer to his house in Shah Alam.

However, due to its policy, Shah Alam does not offer the course that he has always wanted.

After the SPM result was announced, I admit I was on cloud 9 and my head was inflated. I received a very good result, straight A1’s. given the circumstances, I felt confident that I would get anything and everything that I wanted. The world is within my grasp, and quite frankly, given my huge ego at that time, I felt I could have squashed it as well.

And so, I made the decision that would change the course of my life. I decided to apply for JPA Medicine scholarship. I know full well that applying to JPA means that I have to compete with non-Bumis as well as Bumis. But, I felt confident (cocky is probably a better suited word) that I would surely get the offer. I had the best results that one can have. I was very active in co-curricular activities. I was beyond-confident of my interview capabilities. Ujub dan takabbur menguasai diri.

Obviously, I did not get the scholarship.

A more interesting story is in order though. Enough talking about future careers and life. I have a love story to tell you.

My aunt studied in the US, at Northwestern University. Evidently, she was one of the hottest girl in campus. At the end of her tenure there, she received two proposals. She had to choose only one obviously.

And she decided to choose Mr. Zulqarnain.

Do you see where I am getting at? At crossroads, we are forced to choose which path to take. There is no “right” path. You just have to judge it with your own intuition, experience, knowledge and advice from your loved ones.

Sometimes, you have to make decisions that would affect not only your life but also others around you. You may make mistakes, some of them bigger than others. You may be hated, loved or others may not even realise the impact of your decisions. But believe me, one decision in your life will affect others. My aunt when she chose to marry my uncle, inevitably altered not only my uncle’s life but also the other guy’s life.

“When one door closes, we are so intent to look at the closed door that we did not realise, another door is open.”

Some decisions may even bring intense regret later in life. But as the quote suggests, other crossroads will come our way.