文章由绘本《What Do You Do with a Chance?》开篇，引出作者对“机会”这一主题的个人感受与思考。作者结合自己多年来在睡前给孩子读这本书的经历，谈机会如何突然出现、令人犹豫，也可能改变人生方向。
David Heinemeier Hansson
August 11, 2025
One day, I got a chance. It just seemed to show up. It acted like it knew me, as if it wanted something.
This is how Kobi Yamada's book What do you do with a chance? starts. I've been reading that beautiful book to the boys at bedtime since it came out in 2018. It continues:
It fluttered around me. It brushed up against me. It circled me as if it wanted me to grab it.
What a mesmerizing mental image of a chance, fluttering about.
What do you do with a chance? is a great book exactly because it's not just for the boys, but for me too. A poetic reminder of what being open to chance looks like, and what to do when it shows up.
Right now, Omarchy feels like that chance. Like Linux fluttered into my hands and said "let's take a trip to the moon".
This exhilaration of The Chance reminds me of the 1986 cult classic Highlander. There's a fantastic montage in the middle where Sean Connery is teaching Christopher Lambert to fight for the prize of immortality, and in it, he talks about The Quickening. Feeling the stag, feeling the opportunity.
That's the feeling I have when I wake up in the morning at the moment: The Quickening. There's something so exciting here, so energizing, that I simply must get to the keyboard and chase wherever it flutters to.
About David Heinemeier Hansson