Orange Peels

Have you ever heard this? The first man to survive going over the Niagara Falls later died slipping on an orange peel. Yes, big people need not necessarily be masters of small things. But it should be admitted that quality of survival depends on one’s ability to manage small things too. Going through the success stories of great people we see that they had learnt to run over orange peels. Orange peels are our weaknesses. 

Our weaknesses appear mostly as behavioural disorders. It could be that you always want to accomplish a certain task as perfectly as you can but if you fail it stresses you for a long time. It could be that you have had problems showing up to work on time; it could be that you frequently get annoyed when someone teases you. Your weakness could be taking everything serious and getting quickly angry. It is hard for some people to mix up with others easily. Always putting new things and new ideas at work could also be a weak point, because others might not like this. There are perfectionists who spend much time checking and rechecking to ensure everything is done correctly. Weakness to a few is helping and doing things for others before oneself though it is a good sign of good leadership. Being short tempered is the weak point of many. There are also people who are anxious to have a good poker face. The most important thing is that we should be able to identify them and rectify the problems concerned. Criss Jami, a popular US writer, philosopher and performer wrote, “To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.”  Knowing your weakness leads to an awareness of own strength and learning to run over it through consistent practice make you the most powerful of the lot.

I remember the story of a young boy who decided to study Judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. All the time his master taught him only one move. The boy continued his intense training, just trusting his teacher. Several months later, the Sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won every step. His final was really tough. Amazed at his success, the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his master’s mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?" "You won for two reasons," the Sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of Judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm." 

Joseph Mattappally