Opportunity Knocks

By Rabbi Raymond Beyda

Some people hate to cook while others love to cook but can’t stand washing dishes. The odor of a hand towel turns a lot of people off and looking for a paper clip or a stapler can drive some people up a wall. These problems are just a small inkling of the annoying problems people must overcome daily. Problems ­ problems ­problems ­ life is a series of problems!

If one realizes that every problem is also an opportunity to be creative in developing ways to avoid reoccurrence of the same problem a problem could become an adventure in creativity. Someone who did not like to cook had the idea to open fast food establishments and another invented a microwave oven and a third the pre-cooked just heat it up dinner. Someone who did not like to clean up the dirty dishes created an industry that produces paper and plastic utensils for serving food and drink. That annoying odor and a dislike for doing laundry led someone to invent paper towels and then the business minds got to work on a tissue for the nose and a napkin for the table as well as other disposable products that eliminate the need for washing the laundry. Someone who wanted to attach a note to a report invented the post-it note, which led to many self-stick, non-messy products that adhere one item to another.

Today when you are hit with one of life’s inevitable problems don’t look at it as a problem­look for an opportunity. It might be that the problem you can’t tolerate is part of the human condition and if you come up with a solution to enhance the quality of life this problem may just be your opportunity to strike it rich. It only takes a minute to look past the problem and listen for the “knock”.

Text Copyright © 2004 by Rabbi Raymond Beyda and Torah.org.