Experience Must Be Bought

As much as 'There's no free lunch' rings true for most of us, the phrase 'Experience Must Be Bought' should remind us that life is a journey filled with MANY learning curves. There's no such thing as a free lunch because every experience that you learn (what I really mean is, REALLY learn), must be bought. Slow learners, people with no enthusiasm, and especially people who are UNWILLING to pay for the experience will suffer in the end. They will continue to make the same mistake over and over...and sadly, over and over again. Every time they get whacked in the head, they pay a price. Hence at the end of the day, people who are willing to learn and pay the price for the experience pays a smaller price compared to those who refuse to learn from their own mistakes. *** *** *** Joseph sits outside on his porch wondering if the world will ever be the same again. The dimly-lit skies above tells him that today will be no different from the past week. He's a terrible businessman. He entrusted his business in the hands of people with very low moral value even when Cassandra, his girlfriend and his cousin, Brett, told him time and time again that he was making a terrible mistake. They worriedly advised him against trusting Kenneth and that there is more to Kenneth, the smooth-talking 'old school friend', than meets the eye. Joseph now knows that he was not only blinded but he was taking the easy way out. Kenneth, knowing this, manipulated the fact that Joseph would rather spend his days fishing and riding his bike than take concern over his business, told him that everything would be taken care of. Three months down, Joseph was left with nothing but a shell for a company...there was nothing much left of his construction business. What with many of his contracts signed off to people he's never even heard of. Joseph talks another swig off his beer mug. It feels better this way, he thinks. There's nothing I can do now. I have nothing left and it would be senseless to fight this. *** *** Will he squander the rest of his days away now....or is he going to buy this experience for what it is? Most of the time, we have to pay a hefty price for a well-learnt lesson and it sometimes comes as blows so hard-delivered that it slams us to the ground. It cripples us. Gives us migraines over long periods of time. Gives us heart palpitations. Wrecks relationships. And in this case, wrecked a business and potentially rip a good relationship to shredds. The question is....are we going to sit there groping our sorry asses? Or are we going to get up, pay the price and move on.