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Defining Moment

"Life was never the same thereafter."
"Life changed and how....there was something about that moment....."
"Its really difficult put in words but from that day on things changed...I changed...what I once thought impossible is what I have achieved."
"....and it was precisely that turn the game on into their favour..."
"It was moment that defined his greatness as a freedom fighter, as a leader....."
How often have we heard one of the above sentences or statements that in one way or other talk about the defining moment (turning point / life changing moment / that aha! moment)
Buddha had it when attained Nirvana.
Jesus experienced it , especially during his passion in the garden of Gethsemane garden.
Martin Luther King had it when he delivered ..his speech .."I have a dream".
Gandhi had it (probably when he was thrown out the train in South Africa).
Nelson Mandela had it when he challenged the apartheid regime in South Africa.
I have quoted just a handful few...but the world is full of such moments that have changed not just lives of those involved but of the mankind and world as well.
At times it was just a single moment that changed it all or there were over a period of series of moments the cumulative effect of which has always proved to greater than the some of its parts.
That is where the defining moment clip from the movie Tin Cup comes in..... "When a defining moment comes along, you define the moment.....or the moment defines you....I did not shrink from the challenge...I rose to it." (It's different story altogether when look that the full movie...but lines makes an interesting perspective.)

Not everyone is lucky though to be able to pick and choose the defining moment as Tin Cup (or Roy McAvoy) finds it to be. I personally feel that it comes out of evolution of the all the hard work, effort and contemplation that has been going on in the background..consciously or unconsciously..inching towards the moment to which one rises. A point at which the essential nature or character of the person or group is revealed/ identified and goes on to impact all subsequent related occurrences.
However let me caution you that however romanticized or heroic the defining moment may appear it does not occur without the pain and sacrifices the individual / group has to go through. Nor to those who refuse to learn from past, act in the present and prepare for the future. Neither to those who get stuck or want to live in it forever. The pain of getting stuck in that moment of glory is far more than pain of realizing it. And its easier said than done. In hindsight things may seem to appear crystal clear but the path that leads to them not so.
That's precisely why it is difficult for the people to pick and choose their defining moment  but relatively easier for others to put their fingers to it. But there's no harm in staying pursuit of the defining moment by putting in all the diligent hard work, bettered each time through personal learning and reflections. For one may never when his / her hour of glory may come calling either through the decision you take or the path you chose to walk.
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Do also read the link which I came across when I was searching the meaning for defining moment : http://leadingwithtrust.com/2011/08/21/defining-moments/
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