Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Sunday Guardian | May 22, 2016 | p. 14
Where all hopes end, new hope emerges. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was an American politician, author and historian who served as the 26th President of the United States of America. A tragic incident occurred in Roosevelt’s life early on.
On February 14, 1884 when Roosevelt was at work in the New York state legislature, he was summoned home by his family. He returned home to find that his mother had succumbed to typhoid fever. On the same day, his wife died of a severe kidney ailment.
The double tragedy devastated Roosevelt. That day he wrote these words in his diary: “The light has gone out of my life.” Burdened by grief, he abandoned politics and became a cattle rancher in western US. He engrossed himself in raising cattle. But, after a blizzard wiped out his prized herd of cattle in 1885, Roosevelt decided to return to New York under compulsion. He re-entered politics as there was no other option available to him at that time. He kept rising gradually in politics until in 1901, at the age of 42, he became the youngest president of the United States.
There are various such examples where a person experienced a situation of total loss. But, history shows that after the loss the same person re-started his life and became more successful than before.
It is a law of nature that every external loss further activates the inner asset of a person, which is his mind, given to him by nature.
A shocking experience leads to brainstorming and enhances a person’s power of thinking. He becomes capable of beginning his work anew with better planning. Consciously or unconsciously, his mind tries to undo the tragedy that he has experienced. It awakens in him the power of determination, which enables him to attain super success.