Ragged Dick

In the story 'Ragged Dick', the author makes the point that so much of success is dependent on chance, rather than skill. We hear about such circumstances quite often throughout our lives, the 'self made man'. Certainly they had skills which allowed them to climb the social ladder, but the real reason they succeeded and a contemporary did not is due to chance. Pure happenstance, being in the right place at the right time. An example from my own life illustrates this concept: I chose to go to a family gather one night instead of using my time in some other fashion. The outcome of this fateful decision was that a met a far-distance relative, who, upon learning that I wished to pursue a career in audio-engineering informed me that he had a friend who was a musician/producer who would be frequenting the studio frequently (no pun intended) for the next several months. In addition, he volunteered to take me into the studio. Which as I intend to pursue working in such a venue as a career, I found extremely appealing. This entire set of circumstances was completely up to chance. Had I not chosen to go to the gathering, or if I had not paused to talk to this relative, and I would not have received such an opportunity. What will come from it remains to be seen. This is all success really boils down to, being in the right place at the right time.