The Million Dollar Question Merit or Luck
talent
is equally distributed but opportunity
and luck
are not excited yet jittery
that’s how i felt as i entered a
sprawling apartment complex
on the outskirts of wadodra india dirt
caked the walls of the buildings vibrant
clothes hung from strings outside the
small units
children played on the uneven road
stream with potholes
suddenly everything stopped all eyes
were on me
the 13 year old boy with a nike t-shirt
sitting in the passenger seat of a
bright white four-door sedan
eyes and mouth wide open in shock
yes i had seen poverty the homeless in
boston
new york city london and they all struck
a cord in my heart
but this was different this was my first
time
witnessing the severe poverty of this
world
it pries your eyes open so why was i
there
i was there to teach those kids english
and math and i approached that apartment
complex
with the confidence and pride of someone
from a first world country
nervous yes but also with a strong sense
of self-worth
so i cautiously stepped out of the car
walked up the steps
to the third floor of building a there
was excited chatter
as i entered the small apartment 17
bright faces staring at me
one of which i remember with unusual
clarity
deep thief was one of the students that
i would be teaching for the next few
weeks
although only seven years old he would
quickly become the leader of the class
he was not the oldest he was not the
smartest but he had
that special something he would
translate from gujarati
the local language to hindi the language
that i speak
he was vocal asking questions helping
others
actively he had that desire
to learn and to succeed i could imagine
deep growing up to become the ceo
of an important company one day you know
the way we invest in companies to see
them rise i would want to invest in deep
to see him rise as a person
but and there’s a big but
it’s not just about talent
when born under an unlucky star talent
can mean absolutely nothing
now let me tell you about someone both
talented and lucky
whom we read about often his name is
sunder pichai
the ceo of google he went to stanford
and before that the indian institute of
technology
both a result of hard work and
tremendous talent
no doubt in our meritocratic world
the analysis of success usually stops
there
but sundar pachai was not born poor he
did not grow up in a slum where hunger
pervades everything
no that’s called luck the role of your
dice
at birth sunder pachai had the chance to
utilize his talents
his circumstances gave him the
opportunity to excel
deep on the other hand was born so
unlucky so poor
there is little he can do to change his
outcome
the sad reality is that his context
the opportunities he is presented with
will probably force him to leave school
at a young age
work to provide for his family and be
stuck in that unfortunate cycle of
poverty
for his lifetime context
and opportunity those are the key
elements that so
often separate destinies into a pitch
eye
or a deep not talent
not character but context and
opportunity
think about it there’s so much talent
around this world but society is only
picking up the very lucky
it’s like hunting for diamonds by only
looking at what’s on the top soil
let me give you another example on that
same trip i met another profound mind
he was a 13 year old tour guide that
knew spanish
french hindi russian and gave me and my
brother the entire tour in fluent
english
there he was a 13 year old polyglot in
the slums of india
now how’s the world going to utilize
this talent
probably not that well
in modern society we don’t recognize the
role circumstance and privilege play
when it comes to our success
we celebrate the individual and while it
is important to celebrate
the merit of our talent our drive and
our determination
we seem to forget about the happenstance
that brought us there
this type of thinking tears society
apart
it alienates the less fortunate and
diminishes our ability to feel empathy
for each other
yes to a certain extent our success is a
result of our own actions
but given a middle class upbringing
where
would someone like deep be what if he
was like me
what if his parents emigrated to united
states
what if he was born in boston had the
privilege of going to a private school
like st
john’s prep i’d like to think of myself
as an accomplished student
i have good grades i play sports but
does that make me better
than someone like deep no
i was lucky deep was very
unlucky my precious time in
india gave me humility to see the deck
of cards that i was handed
i learned that the key to empathy to any
sort of empathy
is being grateful and the underlying
element of being grateful
is understanding that so much of what we
have was by
chance luck shapes our success
when we recognize the stark difference
between these two terms
better and luckier maybe we can begin to
feel some sort of
empathy for each other once we see life
see those around us through this lens it
brings us together
increasing our sense of kinship and
healing our divide
now what would it look like when
everyone understands with total clarity
the role luck and circumstance have
played in their lives
to that end we returned to india
to the kids who’ve been dealt the worst
hand in life
the same kids in that cramped 200 square
foot apartment
where i taught they knew that their luck
had placed them in one of the worst
situations possible
materially they had close to nothing
but in a sense of love they had
everything
community friendship hope
that was all that they could count on
and they were happy with it
regardless of age regardless of gender
regardless of whatever background they
came from
they loved each other helped each other
had empathy for each other
because they were all in it together for
better or for worse
i still vividly remember my last day
teaching them
when i walked into the class that day i
could hear them screaming
unshe’s here anxious here smiles
plastered across their faces
as that last class came to a close they
came up to me
and handed me a paper circle two folded
straps
hanging down from the side in hindi they
said
we wanted to give you something before
you left
we could not buy you a watch so we made
you this instead
and three years later this watch the
same paper watch made from the hands of
the children born to india’s slums
is pinned to the wall of my bedroom that
contains a bed to sleep in
a pillow to rest my head on a desk to
study at
and this watch serves as a reminder that
no matter how far i get
how successful i become i was just born
in the right place at the right time
i was lucky thank you
you