Prince Charles is a man in waiting. He’s been waiting to be king his whole life.
It’s a depressing lot in life, isn’t it? Your entire existence is wrapped up in a moment that may never happen… and will only happen when your mom dies.
Lame.
In so many ways Charles has proven he isn’t worthy to be king. He didn’t stand up to his family to marry the woman he loved. Instead, he married Diana, and their life turned into a tabloid embarrassment. And while many think he has an amazing book on organic gardening no one takes him seriously as a statesman and would-be king. He’s perpetually this dude politely waiting.
One way I know he isn’t fit to be king is that he has waited all of these years. History is full of stories where the prince got the queen or king out of the way so he could assume the role he was born to have. Not to be morbid or trite… but couldn’t he have talked his mom into some sort of deal by now? Certainly, she could have retired her role and allowed her son, as the crown prince, to govern?
Maybe she has just waited this whole time for him to grab the crown instead of pretending to be Hugh Hefner all of these years? Queen Elizabeth has proven herself to be more a man than her son, that’s for sure.
At some point in his life Charles must have woken up to the reality that there was no coronation ceremony coming.
Here’s the reality check: There’s no coronation ceremony coming for you, either.
I used to have this fantasy that I’d be doing my thing and one day someone would walk up to me and say, “Adam, you’re Sunday school lesson today was incredible. Here’s a publishing contract. Why don’t you come and join our team?” Or… “Thanks for coming to our meeting today, why don’t you come back and chair this committee next time?”
That’s not the way the world works. Instead, when given the opportunity to lead you have to go for it and nail it. When an opportunity presents itself you make the most of it.
Far more people snatch, grab, and maneuver their way to king than will ever assume the role by death or attrition.
The myth of the open door
In Christian circles there’s a lot of talk of open doors. There’s a whole pile of people sitting around and waiting for open doors. But here’s the thing about waiting for open doors… I’ve found that most open doors lead to really crappy opportunities! (A church job I can “just have” is not worth having. Or a standing offer to join an organization is probably an organization I don’t want to be a part of.)
The best opportunities for you might just be doors you have to put a little shoulder in. Or wedge your Nike’s in when the door is cracked open to ask, “Who is there?”
And the very best opportunities in my life have come when I went to my garage and got my Sawzall to make my own door.
Call me crazy, but I’d rather be the maniac with the Sawzall cutting down doors of opportunity than playing Prince Charles the Polite with my arms crossed on the cover of Time Magazine.
Why?
Because at the end of the day I know which person I want to follow.
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