Posted by There is always hope for survival in every second innings of life. The second innings is sometimes a lifesaver opportunity. It’s a favour done by Allah to mend all the important things ignored in the first attempt. The person who understands the significance of a second chance immediately grabs the available opportunity and works accordingly. I always wonder why we humans are so indolent; we always expect that life will give us an opportunity for a second attempt or maybe more than that. In this article, I want to highlight about two facts related to human behaviour.
1) Ignoring the second chance or taking it lightly.
I have seen people performing daredevil stunts. These life fatal and life-threatening acts are sometimes dangerous for life. A person who accomplishes it once without taking any precautions or safety measures infers that if he will attempt it a second time, he would again dodge the danger associated with that act. For example, we see naïve or careless people driving their bikes at top speed without bothering about their own selves and the others who are driving, walking, or standing at pedestals or roadside. They are charged up and fascinated by the animations and graphics shown in the movies, OTT platforms, etc., not knowing that these stunts are performed by professionals under precautionary measures. This ignorance sometimes becomes the reason for doom.
In exams when one cheats and escapes from the eyes of the invigilator, gives him the audacity to attempt once again. This courage makes him bold to try new manoeuvres to cheat in exams. This is the most dangerous part of life. A person, if remains unrecognized in the first attempt of offense, continues to increase his audacity towards the wrongdoing thereby moving towards self-destruction. And, if a person attempts to cheat the first time and successfully accomplishes it, and in real-time, he realizes by introspecting his own self that what he has done is wrong, then this cue from his inner self is the real cognizance for his self. Only the blessed ones fall in this category.
2) Not striving to improve
Why are most people not able to change their lives? The answer is simple they don’t want to push their limits. I want to cite here the example of my subject- I have seen people appearing for hifz sanawat exams but failing to complete them in the first attempt. What should be the perception of the teacher here? It’s obvious that the student in the second attempt will strive harder to crack it. However, the truth is, seldom is the expected amount of effort observed, and neither the earlier attempt remains intact. I generally ask my students when they have tried for the first time and failed, have you tried and pushed your limit at the best? For example, you know that your revision for your memorized ajza for “X” number of times is not working, have you tried to increase your circle of revision for your memorized AJZA even more than before? Unfortunately, the answer is often a big NO. The students often don’t realize what harm this setback would be influencing their minds. Each setback has its own sets of consequences sometimes which are not apparent. If someone argues that Thomas Edison succeeded in the 1000th attempt then why wouldn’t we? But here the concern is not in attempting several times, however, it is to attempt without realizing what made us fail in earlier attempts and working more diligently for the next one.
We sometimes advise and ask our students that you should perform the revision of your ajza “X” number of times which will consume a pre-defined time frame. We prevent them from attempting before the given period of time. However, the student tries to appear for the exam relying upon his instinct that my previous failure was a mere coincidence although I have the potential to complete the test successfully. This can be true for a few. But often it’s a matter of underperformance. Lack of hard work leads to failure the second time as well. The student ignores to realize that his preparation wasn’t strong and instead he tries to convince himself that again it’s a coincidence or he failed accidentally. He needs to break this cycle of his whims and fancies. It’s time to immediately realize that my efforts are in severe need of improvement and what I have done till now is missing the important element of powerful practice.
As we are near the end of the current academic year and we are blessed with the privilege of attending Imtihan in the presence of Aqa Maula TUS, we should toil harder to introspect in our efforts and identify the element we lacked this year so that we can improve in the next academic year. The days and weeks will pass in the blink of an eye and by the end, we see our report card, without giving the required effort there will be no room to blame anyone but ourselves. We are enjoying our days when we don’t have to attend the classes but this enjoyment should not overtake our goal to introspect and contemplate our past efforts. This freedom of not attending the class should not push us towards deeds or actions which can endanger our performance.
It’s time to introspect, not to waste.