When an inanimate object, such as a piece of wood,
is broken in two, it remains broken. Never again can
it remould itself into one piece. Animate objects,
however, live on even after breakages. When one
live amoeba is cut in two, it turns into two live
amoebae.
This is surely a sign from God, showing us the
wealth of opportunity that God has kept in store for
us live human beings in this world. For a human
being, no defeat is final, no disaster permanently
crippling. As an animate being, no human can be
finally shattered for, when broken, its every piece is
welded again into a new, live being, if anything,
more formidable than before.
For a human being, failure is not failure at all, for it
only serves to make one into a more profound,
thoughtful person. Obstacles present no hindrance,
for they open up new avenues of intellectual
advance. Setbacks do not stunt one’s growth, for
even if one is crushed into many small pieces, each
piece in its own right has the capacity to form the
building blocks of an entirely new being.
Such are the never-ending possibilities which God
has created for man in this world, but it is only one
who is alive to these possibilities who can benefit
from them, gathering and marshalling his resources
after some shattering setback. When he tastes
defeat, he does not lose heart, but prepares himself
to issue a new challenge. He builds anew his
shipwrecked boat, and, aboard it, sets out once
again on his voyage through life (118:9).
--Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
( Ref - The Moral Vision)
