Acres of Diamonds

by Meghana Vishvanath

Cupertino, California

 

“Learn to listen. Opportunity sometimes knocks very softly.”  Despite the fact that this comes from Life’s Little Instruction Book, a book that also has instructions such as “don’t leave a ring in the bathtub, install smoke detectors in your house, eat prunes, and put the cap back on the toothpaste,” it does bring up a valuable idea. The skill of discovering opportunities is one that is becoming increasing less visible in today’s society. Essentially, people fail to recognize opportunities for three major reasons: the inability to recognize it as such, the fear of taking a risk, and the discouragement from a failure. However, with the overcoming of these three factors, there are no limits to what a human can achieve.      

A speech written by Russel Conwell around the turn of the century exemplifies this idea very well. Conwell’s speech was so effective that he was asked to give it over six thousand times in the course of two decades. It tells the story of a Persian farmer, Ali Hafed, who had done very well in life. “He was a wealthy, contented man contented because he was wealthy and wealthy because he was contented.” A priest visited Ali Hafed one day, and during their conversations, the priest brought up the subject of a diamond. He said that a diamond the size of his thumb was enough to buy a whole country and that there were mines of diamonds all over the world. This instilled in Ali Hafed a desire for diamonds and “went to bed that night a poor man, poor because he was discontented and discontented because he thought he was poor.” A sleepless night later, he asked the priest where he should go to find a diamond mine. After much deliberation, the priest said "If you look for a river that runs over white sands between high mountains, you will always find diamonds in those sands.” The thought of becoming rich himself was enough to entice him into selling his farm and putting his entire life savings at risk while going in quest of the diamonds. The man wandered through Persia, Palestine, and even through Europe. Finally, broke, alone, sick, tired, disappointed and exhausted, he threw himself into the ocean, and drowned. Back on his farm, the new farmer was leading a camel to a stream that cut across the farm when he noticed a rock that threw off light in a remarkable fashion, quite similar to what the old farmer had seen many times. It was later identified to be a diamond of inestimable value. The man who identified it as such, the priest, asked the farmer to take him back out and show him where he had found it. They went back together and found another and another and another; the whole stream was literally covered with acres of diamonds!

Ali Hafed had left his own home in search of diamonds elsewhere. After reading this story for the first time, I asked myself: why is it that a man who originally had everything forsook it all for something which might not even give him anything in return? Why is it that a man -- who had the potential to be rich by just staying at home -- left, leaving everything he ever wanted right on his plantation?

There is a direct correlation between his incident and that of the occurrences in a society today. Ali Hafed did not realize that a diamond in its crude form resembles any other type of rock; in fact, it looks even worse, like burnt fragments and charred remnants of coal. For a diamond to be recognized as such needs to be cut, and shaped and polished. Only then is a diamond an object of a desire. The major reason why people miss their greatest opportunities is because it often comes in the form of a crude, rough diamond; disguised as laborious work, and the truth of the matter is that people are simply not willing to put that work in. Unfortunately, by letting such an opportunity pass, many people lose their chance to shine.

Another interesting point that this story brings up this that everything that we could possibly want usually lies right in our own path. This means it lies in our own talents, abilities, interests, background, connections, communities, and in the example of Ali Hafed, in his own stream. The realizations of our deepest dreams are probably very close at hand. The obvious question that then arises: why can’t we find it? I ask you to look into your hearts, question yourself. Why is it so hard for society today to understand and digest this idea? The risk of failure, you say. All I have to say to that is… Ha!

But, in case you haven’t already realized it, taking a risk is essentially the same thing as recognizing an opportunity. By taking a risk, you are leaving your comfort zone, and venturing into the land of the unknown, a.k.a. the land of discovery. No discovery, no invention, no radical thoughts have formed when surrounded by events and people who thought the normal way. Believe it or not, some people won’t take a risk, won’t recognize an opportunity simply on the basis that it could fail. However, to that I say, give me an invention that has been perfectly invented the first time. Give me a successful person who has not failed. Give me a new idea that has never been rejected. People need to realize that by overcoming the barrier of failure, they are overcoming any and every future barrier to come. 

Without seizing every opportunity that comes your way, how can you ever know whether you are all that you can be? How can it ever be clear as to what you might have accomplished or what you could have done? I ask you, why is it that so many times during the day, you simply don’t do something because it seemed immaterial and you thought it wouldn’t have a big effect on your life anyway? If Marie Curie had not continued in her experimentation simply because of her gender, if she had been consumed by society’s standards, we all know what type of loss we would have in the field of science. If Alexander Graham Bell thought that his idea, conversation between two people not in the vicinity of each other, was hopeless, and that it wouldn’t affect his or other people’s lives for that matter, we would not be able to communicate in the effective manner that we do today. If all inventors had never learned to realize when an opportunity was near at hand, how could they and society have progressed?

These two people are no different from you and me. They have all the same capabilities that we do; the only difference is that they saw their defeats as just as much of an opportunity as the very first time when they thought of the idea. Unlike most of us, they believed in its capacity to achieve greatness, and that has made all the difference. With this recognition comes a realization of an idea, and with the examples of these people, an increase in the standard of living for all.  Hold on to these opportunities, for these are what might make you a very successful person. If it doesn’t work out, you’ve lost nothing, only gained a valuable, irreplaceable experience.

Everything, if viewed in the correct light, can be seen as an opportunity. However, some are more so than others, and the good opportunities are frequently those that are best concealed. The walnut best exemplifies this idea. The hard shell covering it is not appealing, or desirable. Only after breaking through it can one find the soft, delicious nut. However, we mustn’t let the concealment of an opportunity be a hindrance; instead, it is a motivation to find our opportunities when they arise. According to Brian Tracy, in the Psychology of Achievement, “Everyone has the potential to be great in at least one area.” If that is true, then why are so few people those we would call successful, or high achievers? The vast majority fails to seize whatever opportunities come its way. They fail in seeing through what they start, or they don’t care for the matter enough to want it to come true. However, find something that you are comfortable with, and going back to the acres of diamonds principle, it is most commonly in what you’re familiar and comfortable with that has the most opportunity for you; look for it there; your acres of diamonds are close by you[u1] .

Without first realizing a prospect, or likelihood, there is no way that anything can come to occur. The first step in invention, idea or theory is the recognition of it and later the work on it. Without being able to identify when an opportunity is close by, your very own potential cannot be fully recognized, realized or accomplished. However, with the identification of such an opportunity come limitless prospects, undimmed chances, and a world waiting to be discovered. 

Bibliography:

Life’s Little Instruction Book—H. Jackson Brown Jr.

http://www.komma-net.de/rb/abo/Reden/r052.htm
Russel Conwell’s speech date visited: 11/7/01

Psychology of Achievement—Brian Tracy