Of misconstruction and the weight of words

I first read the words that I have reproduced here below when I was a student at Starehe Boys' Centre – Nairobi. They were the first things I saw when I went to read the notices on the Notice Board. During my student years (in the late eighties and early nineties) these words gave me the drive to do my best even when failure looked me in the face.

After school they got me into a grave problem once when I started working – I was fired! I lost a job that was my lifeline at the time. The day before I was fired, I had handwritten them and glued (so crude of me!) the sheet of paper on the Notice Board for my colleagues to read and get inspired. Little did I know that the Manager would consider the words as an insult to the company and her person. She tore the paper and bound menacingly to her office with the shreds in her hands. She sent someone to call me. Having witnessed the unfolding 'melodrama' I knew I was in for it. How right my premonition was! I was summarily dismissed and only a vague explanation for the action was forthcoming. I later pieced the pieces of the jigsaw and came to know the why and wherefore of the unwarranted dismissal. She had thought my aim was to kindle the ire of the workers against her – what with poor pay, unconducive working environment and lack of transparency. She really had every reason to be scared but my aim was far from that – as far as the heavens are from the earth!
Anyway, situations like these hone and shape us, don't they?

Sample the piece…

STRUGGLE IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE


You want the good things in life. You want more money, power and status in the office. You want to drive around town in a spanking new car. And you want to invite your many friends to your sprawling house to meet your beautiful wife and charming children. Also you want a healthy body, a quicker wit and a more sparkling personality.
Well, you can have all these and many more if you are willing to pay the price. These things are expensive, very expensive. And for most people, too expensive. They demand more than wealth or talent. They demand courage. The courage to work hard even when you feel underpaid and unrecognized. The guts to keep working hard.
Essentially life demands struggle. Everyday has to be a day of struggle. Once one can accept this stark truth as something positive, one can start to get ahead. Struggle allows us to refine our talents. It is the intense heat that burns the dross. It is the alchemy that turns one into pure gold.
There is no magic in the real world. In fantasy wonderful things happen of their own accord. But this is not the way the real world works. The universal law is simple: YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.
If you are tired, it is not due to struggle. Struggle does not tire: it uplifts and rejuvenates: it brings about the best in the human spirit.
If you feel that life is hard, you have not faced your toughest adversity: Your own negative thinking. Struggle means pushing ahead no matter what. It means investing your hopes and energies even in a cause that seems hopeless. Struggle is a mark of heroism, and the difference between winners and losers.
Life is for the living. It is a struggle, challenge, change, disaster and triumph. Forget your multiple fortunes. If you can forge a win of iron by fighting through the thick of misfortune then the world is your oyster. There is no easy way to reap what you think you deserve. You have to fight for it all the way.
At this moment you are where you deserve to be. If you are surrounded by abundance, it is because you have the heart of a lion. If you are surrounded by scarcity, it is because you've not dared to challenge yourself to rise against adversity. Struggle is the meaning of life.
If you want more from your life, ask what you have done to deserve more. Don't sit around lost in daydreams: ONLY ACTION WILL REDEEM YOU.
From now on, think your way into a dynamic and confident state of mind and being. Strive to be that little bit better in everything you do in everyday struggle! Crawl up that mountain! Go for it! ~!

(By the way, are these words still on the Starehe Boys' Centre main Notice Board?)