On A Silver Platter

Only if/when a person deserves something will I give something to him/her without conditions. I believe that when you want something, you should work for it, because effort is the measure of whether you deserve something or not.

I learned this the hard way back in high school. And [re]learned it again in college. And as if I have not learned anything, the real world presses it to me yet again. I have accepted a long time ago that I cannot get everything I want even if I work for it. As my dad would repeatedly say, "Ang kapalaran ni Juan ay hindi kapalaran ni Pedro." Sometimes you are inspired by people, you want to do the things they do. But no matter how hard you try, some things will never be yours. But despite this frame of mind, I still work for it because I believe a man must be who he can be; he must do what he can do.

But there are also things which come to you effortlessly. We all like to call them "blessings." We think that it was handed to us on a silver platter. Some would even say it's destined to happen. Whatever. I look at it this way: Maybe someone just didn't work hard enough; maybe someone worked hard for you to deserve that; maybe the effort you put is enough and you underestimated yourself. Again, effort is the measurement of what we deserve.