-William Shakespeare

Very often in life, the effort one puts into training for a given purpose, is, at first sight, not necessarily proportional to the outcome.

For example, a trained actor who can recite Shakespeare, and Marivaux by heart in multiple languages, is an extra in a potato chips commercial. Or someone who has sacrificed and endured all his life for a given sport, performs for 22 seconds on the world-stage, wins a gold medal and that is all he has to show for two decades of hard work (Consequently, the depression that follows this is highlighted in a number of studies and documentaries).

And even upon fair recognition, it still seems like a mountain delivered a mouse, when compared to the effort put in; Bolt trains all his life, for a 9+ second performance. And he is one of the success stories!

The purpose here is not to say whether it is deserved or not, and how much is deserved, or what mistakes were made along the way. Rather, for, amongst other things, brevity, that, even though at times more is deserved, even when you do get what you deserve, it still seems less than the effort, time, blood, sweat, and tears that some put into an endeavour-and others stumble upon ‘’greatness’’, with little to no effort, as our boy, Billy states in the quote above.

The truth is, it does not matter how the world perceives what your positive efforts are, when they recognise it, and even IF AT ALL they do recognise these efforts; Mozart was not held in the highest esteem in his day, Galileo was imprisoned, Copernicus was executed, Vivaldi had the papers on which his symphonies were written, used to wrap and sell fish upon his impoverished death-yet we see 16 year olds achieving ‘’fame’’ and wealth and ‘’status’’ for taking photographs of their own faces in front of a mirror. Sadly, these things happen, and these self-absorbed teens have always existed since the dawn of time, and unrecognised Vivaldis will exist always, as well.

As long as you are fulfilling what you have been called upon to do (Finding what this is may take time, self-reflection, self-effacement, consulting with the appropriate souls, meditation, prayer, etc… but EVERYONE has, and can find their purpose. See other posts on this), and effecting a positive change upon yourself and those around you, and carrying forward an ‘’ever-advancing civilization’’, the rest is of little direct import to your life.

“All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.” –Bahá’u’lláh

Leading a decent way of life, contributing any way you can, focusing on morality every day (A simple, but NOT an easy task, especially long-term), with common sense and a pure heart, enables you to live, serve your world, and die as you should. You cannot influence how quickly nor how slowly your efforts get recognised, if at all they do; nor can you prevent others who make little effort from getting recognised. And nor should you try to! Perhaps the world needs to SEE the contrast. Focusing on this apparent injustice may lead to bitterness, burn-out, and certainly lack of focus on your part.

But, though it may initially seem like a mountain delivered a mouse, in the end, eventually, the best efforts come to light! The greatest contributions are unveiled! And those who serve the greater purpose and their deeds, eventually get recognised and frauds are also unveiled! That is an immutable truth throughout history.

This does not mean there are not unsung heroes, for there are. Countless contributors whose names we shall never know. But, their actions have effected a change, a positive change in our world- and this is ultimately what they worked for, and all they really cared about. So in the end, justice prevails, even though it may not always SEEM this way.

Doing this takes discipline, and like everything worth doing, is not easy. Nothing worth doing ever is. In fact, the difficult thing to do, and the mature/right thing to do, are very often one and the same thing.

Therefore, focus on living the productive and daily moral life; and WHEN (Not if, but rather when) your main purpose is found, stay the course, and let the rest of the chips fall where they may.

Blessed is the man of discipline and honesty and focus who remains true to his mission, undistracted, and undaunted by the gay livery of the nether world. However unfair things may seem, time has a way of revealing the truth; nothing remains hidden under the sun forever. Nothing at all.

“That which was applicable to human needs during the early history of the race can neither meet nor satisfy the demands of this day, this period of newness and consummation…Man must now become imbued with new virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities…The gifts and blessings of the period of youth, although timely and sufficient during the adolescence of mankind, are now incapable of meeting the requirements of its maturity.”- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá