Bones of Success

American singer and actor Reba McEntire identified wish, guts and humour as the three ingredients of success. She called them “wishbone, backbone and funny bone.”

Life is a struggle from birth to death. It is a struggle against all sorts of hurdles and pitfalls that inevitably come our way. In order to overcome those hurdles and pitfalls, we need dreams, guts and humour.

There are plenty of examples from history to illustrate this. Let me take an old example: the family of King Edward I of England and his wife. Queen Eleanor (1241-1307) bore 16 children between 1255 and 1284. She lived in palaces, ate the best food, had all the luxury she could wish for in those days, and also had an army of servants and the best of doctors. Yet her children died one after another.

1. First daughter died in 1255 at birth.

2. Daughter Catherine died in childhood, did not live beyond the age of 3.

3. Another daughter Joan died at the age of six months.

4. Son John died at age 5.

5. Son Henry died at age 6.

6. Daughter Eleanor died at age 29.

7. Another daughter died at 5 months of age.

8. Yet another daughter, again named Joan, managed to live up to the age of 35.

9. Son Alphonso died at age 10.

10. Daughter Margaret went on to live up to 58.

11. Next daughter, Berengeria, died at age 2.

12. Next daughter died at birth.

13. Another daughter, Mary, lived till 53.

14. A son died at birth.

15. Daughter Elizabeth died at 34.

16. Son Edward was the first of the boys to survive and he went on to become King Edward II.

Paradoxically Edward II didn’t live long too. He was murdered by his own wife, Isabella of France.

That’s a very old example. Today the situation would be quite different. Your children or relatives or other close ones may be killed in a bomb blast, mob lynching, nationalist fervour, or a train derailment. Some evil or the other is always lurking behind the corner. We have to struggle against those ineluctable evils.

Wish, guts and humour help much in those struggles. The wish to go on, the wish to win, the wish to make sense of what is happening to you – yes, the wish is vital. So is courage without which you will give up again and again. Humour is the best weapon with which you can arm yourself on this perilous journey called life. If you can laugh, you can go on and on. Even if life warps your smiles occasionally, keep smiling, it helps on the way.

PS. Written for In(di)spire Edition 272:

To succeed in life you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone - Reba McEntire - Can you relate to this quote? #ThreeBones

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