Opportunity

Opportunity is something I often ponder about, and I’m going to try to materialize my thoughts about it here. Opportunity is different for everyone. No one chooses to be born, yet our consciousness is unwillingly dawned on this planet when we are. Everyone is brought onto this planet in a unique situation and their lives are largely impacted by the soil they are born on. We meander through life with the platform we are given, but not every platform is created equal. Our starting points for our respective journeys are greatly influenced by our nationality, neighborhoods, level of affluence, among many other factors.

I haven’t traveled much, but I have spent a lot of time in India and a month in Indonesia. I think it was sufficient enough to see how different any given person’s life is from another based on the location and family they were born into. In both places, many people for generations stay in their region of a city or town and have never lived anywhere else, nor do they intend to. India is not very touristy, so the economy is largely dependent on business. Businesses cannot afford to take days off, so they’re likely working every single day and this is just enough to maintain stability for their homes. In Indonesia, particularly Bali and Komodo, much of the economy is based on tourism and hospitality. Many children cannot afford to go abroad to university in Jakarta so they follow the footsteps of their parents and adopt their parent’s profession as their only realistic route through life.

As I toured through Bali, I figured the tour guides and locals could give the best recommendations on places to go and visit around Bali. What I quickly learned is that never have any opportunity to travel. They do not have the money to be touring their home country, nor do they have the time because they are always working. I was limited to staff at hostels and other backpackers to get advice and recommendations on places to visit and things to do.

I thought about this a lot, more than I care to admit and it made me really sad. I have aspirations and dreams, and I have the opportunity to realistically seize my dreams in my lifetime. I want to take a year off and travel the world. I want to start my own company at some point in my life. It was futile for them to even think about that because it is beyond the reaches of their imagination. Here I am, traveling and visiting all the beautiful sights of their land that they themselves, despite living their whole lives there, have never seen. I truly believe I have seen more of Indonesia than 90% of locals. It’s just not fair.

Then I had a change of heart.

I was doing a sunrise hike to Mount Batur in north Bali and we had a guide named Sugiarta from that village to walk us up the 2 hour journey. I spent a lot of time getting to know Sugiarta and he was a really entertaining 20 year old who’s only job was to guide tourists up and down the mountain few mornings a week, and the rest of the time he would help his family fish in the lake the villages surround. I asked him what his dream was, and he replied to “be on a ship” Upon hearing that I was baffled, he lives on an island for crying out loud. But then it made me uncontrollably smile.

It was in that moment I had my change of heart and a renewed perspective of opportunity, dreams, and personal ambition. Everyone is born with their own set of conditions, limitations, and environments. Everyone has their own goals and dreams and it stems from what they’ve experienced in childhood. It is pointless for me to sulk in misery lamenting that these wonderful people cannot share the joy of traveling that I can. Everywhere I look, whether it was in India or Indonesia, people are happy with what they have. They are content because they are able to provide for their family by working hard and that is their satisfaction. Sugiarta is happy because he can climb this mountain, see a beautiful sunrise, and get to meet and speak with foreigners. Every human is fighting their own battle through lif, seeking what makes them happy. If there is one lesson I have learned from this is that you should never look at what you don’t have, and appreciate what you do have.