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Life is a Challenge

insuperable, or that which is – within limits – quite
surmountable. The latter challenge can prove to be a
stepping stone to further progress, but if the challenge
is so enormous as to be of a crippling nature, it can
reach unmanageable proportions and, it goes without
saying, can have disastrous consequences.
As a rule, challenges fall into two categories – the
tractable and the intractable. The former kind of
challenge is a regular feature of nature’s functioning
or is part of the scheme of things as laid down by the
Creator. It is the way of nature to create such situations
as will result in the kind of challenges which motivate
people to strive to their utmost, thus unfolding their
hidden potential.

As a rule, challenges which are reasonably easy to deal
with result from some natural process, but in the case of
any insurmountable challenge, it is invariably the result
of man’s own unrealistic policies. There is a well-known
saying, ‘To err is human’. And it is not unusual for an
individual or nation to make mistakes. But, it is also
important that the moment we feel we have taken a
wrong step, we must immediately take a U-turn in order
to save ourselves from disaster.
There are several examples of this in the recent
past. For instance, in 1965, due to internal pressure,
Singapore separated from Malaysia. This event was a
loss for Malaysia in terms of territory. It did present
major problems, but had no devastating effect, because
Malaysia adopted the realistic approach of accepting this
as a challenge and dealt with it head on. It thus remained

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