Why the Best Is Truly Yet to Come: Berton Braley’s “Opportunity” in Modern Life
Feeling like the world has already run out of room for your ambitions? Think again!
Opportunity
Berton Braley
With doubt and dismay you are smitten
You think there’s no chance for you, son?
Why, the best books haven’t been written
The best race hasn’t been run,
The best score hasn’t been made yet,
The best song hasn’t been sung,
The best tune hasn’t been played yet,
Cheer up, for the world is young!
No chance? Why the world is just eager
For things that you ought to create
Its store of true wealth is still meagre
Its needs are incessant and great,
It yearns for more power and beauty
More laughter and love and romance,
More loyalty, labor and duty,
No chance – why there’s nothing but chance!
For the best verse hasn’t been rhymed yet,
The best house hasn’t been planned,
The highest peak hasn’t been climbed yet,
The mightiest rivers aren’t spanned,
Don’t worry and fret, faint hearted,
The chances have just begun,
For the Best jobs haven’t been started,
The Best work hasn’t been done
Reflection
Berton Braley’s “Opportunity” speaks directly to the paralysis of comparison. Written a century ago, its cadence feels urgently tailored to modern life, where algorithm-driven feeds bombard us with the polished achievements of others. We scroll through viral successes, tech breakthroughs, and endless curated milestones, quickly concluding that every great idea is taken and every summit is claimed. We mistake saturation for completion.
Braley shatters that illusion. His verses insist that society’s true wealth remains meager, perpetually hungry for fresh beauty, deeper empathy, and honest labor. Progress is not an exhausted gold mine; it is an open frontier. The “best house” or “best song” does not belong exclusively to history—it belongs to anyone daring enough to build in the present.
In our era of rapid automation and shifting careers, despair often masquerades as realism. Yet real innovation begins when we stop measuring what others have accomplished and start recognizing the immense voids waiting for human heart and imagination. Braley’s conviction is simple: opportunity is not a vanishing lottery ticket; it is the natural consequence of being alive in an evolving world.
As you read this poem, ask yourself:
What unique gift or creative effort are you holding back simply because you assumed someone else has already done it better?