In 2017, I visited a Pearl village in Phu Quoc island in Vietnam. The farmers there showed me how the pearl was formed. From a tiny bit of sand, later it became a beautiful and glowing pearl inside of an oyster. However, not every oyster make pearl. Some have none. It’s because pearls are only made when the intruders, such as a grain of sand or bit of floating food, happen to get inside the oysters. These intruders could make the pearls irritated, uncomfortable or hurt, no one really knows.
What I found fascinating is how the oyster reacts to those intruders. Instead of rejecting unwanted visitors, gradually, the oyster produces layer of nacre inside to protect itself from irritation. Then layer upon layer of nacre coat the grain of sand, the oyster forms a pearl inside itself. If the pearl is coated and nurtured long enough, it then grows bigger and becomes more glowing when harvested.
There is a saying “No grit, no pearl”. A pearl actually is formed through the oyster’s grit to overcome its own adversity. Oyster who has never really gone through any irritation caused by the intruder would never form any pearl. Something sparked in my mind, a grain of sand, although brings a lot of discomfort and pain, happens to become the catalyst to help form a beautiful pearl inside an oyster.
In our lives, many times we will have to go through some pain or sadness which we call adversity. We pay respect and admiration to people who are successful but not many really know how much effort were put in to achieve those success.
When I start this site, I just want to look closely inside successful people, who I admire, to find the hidden traits for their success. I also want to remind myself how the oyster bravely and positively dealt with its problems in its own creative way, to form its glowing pearl.
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