What is a leash? A leash is that rope used to tie a dog when
you don’t want it to wander off during a walk. A leash limits the movement of
the dog to a few feet from the dog walker. To be unleashed is to be set free to
wander, explore and see the world. It is a good idea to keep a dog on a leash,
it is not a very good idea to keep a man on a leash. We keep dogs leashed
because we don’t want them getting lost or causing harm to other people along
our path. We are also trying to keep them from acting on their wild
imagination.
What are some of the leashes that hold us as mankind?
Ignorance
You can choose to believe that ignorance is bliss or you can
choose that ignorance is no defence. Either way you are right. Indeed there are
times where what you don’t know cannot hurt you. I hear a lot of people say
that it is okay when your spouse or other trusted individual is cheating on you
for as long as you don’t know. So much so that Mario Winans sung “I don’t wanna
know’ The problem with this though is that eventually the truth outs and the
hurt is tenfold. It is better to know early on rather than live with the
assumption that everything is okay only to get hit with the devastating news
late in the day. I can’t honestly live in the school of ignorance is bliss. I
am more of a believer in the school of ignorance is no defence. It is clear
even in the law that the fact that you didn’t know it was illegal to act in a
particular way does not fully exonerate you from the consequences. It might
land you a milder sentence but you won’t go scot free. This is clearly alluded
to even in the bible.
Ignorance is responsible for a lot of mediocre lives out
here. When you don’t know about the better world that is out there, you will be
content with your mundane existence. There is an African saying that puts it
aptly. ‘He who has never travelled thinks his mother is the best cook.’ A
failure to be exposed to the possibilities of the world around and beyond you
can limit your options a great deal. I have always joked with my wife about the
fact that a woman in Turkana will hardly crave pizza during her pregnancy. Why?
Because pizza is not in her consciousness. It is difficult to aspire for the
things you haven’t been exposed to. Ignorance is a big leash, perhaps the
biggest ever placed on us. While we cannot change where we were born and what
that exposes us to initially, as we grow up our options change significantly.
Thank God for Television, books, education and so much more. We know a lot more
about what goes on across the world and as such we can also dare to dream the
same way people from a more privileged background can. YouTube can take you to
places and give you experiences that are out of this world if only you take the
time to watch. Don’t allow ignorance to be your undoing, not in this
information age. Take advantage of all the resources at your disposal to
position yourself for great experiences.
Lies
The narratives you grow up with are very instrumental in how
far you can stretch. If you grow up believing you can, your reach will be
significant. If you grow up believing you can’t, you will have placed the
limits on yourself already. Many people have resigned to a life that is way
beneath what they can be simply because they believed certain lies about
themselves. The way you interpret the events of your life is key to the lies or
truth you end up believing in. Two people can go through the same experience
but come out with very different results. There are people who have allowed one
failure to define them and because of that they have not been able to move
beyond it. Others are on the other extreme. They have allowed themselves to be
lulled by their past successes and failed to move beyond them. If there is
anything you have done in the past and you are living there, referring back to
it in present day conversations, then you have become the victim of a lie. You
have allowed yourself to be caged by that experience and find nothing
interesting in what is happening today. Other lies are built up over time. When
you constantly have negative experiences around a particular issue, you will
learn to associate it with those experiences and never see them in any other
light. I always like going back to the story of how at some point I stopped
eating pork because the first time I did, I suffered tonsilitis the following
day. It was very difficult for me to separate the two and for the better part
of my childhood, I shunned pork. I had become a victim of that lie. I had a
similar experience with tomatoes. As a result of being choked by a piece of
tomato cover, I ‘broke up’ with tomatoes for a long time. Much later in my
teens when I could see things differently, I started eating pork and having
tomatoes in my food again. I can tell you for free that I enjoy pork probably
more than any other meat today. That lie would have kept me from pork forever
if I had not been willing o interrogate it when I knew better.
Such lies keep you from leaving life to the fullest. They
are a tight leash around your neck telling you how far you can go and how far
you can’t. Some lies are passed down from one generation to another. That is jhow
stereotypes are built and established. Stereotypes are lies which have been
told long enough that they take on the semblance of truth. They will keep you
from marrying from certain tribes, doing business with certain groups of people
and so much more. In shot they place limits on what you can do because they are
such a powerful hold on your mind.
What lies have you believed in and how are they keeping you
from living life to the fullest? Pose
and answer this question thoroughly in your notebook and share a summary in the
comments.
Culture
Culture is a beautiful thing. It is a people’s way of life
and a great determining factor of how we live our lives. A lot of what makes up
our culture is good and meant to safeguard us from excesses and give meaning and
identity to our lives. However, there are certain aspects of our culture which
if we buy into wholesale possess the potential to rob us of a full life. While
aspects of our culture might have been useful in helping us survive in times
past, you would do well to question their rationale in light of where we are
today. Culture is conservative in nature and this is important because =certain
things need to be preserved for posterity. To condemn anyone’s culture
wholesomely is a foolish exercise that amounts to nothing. I also want to add
that to embrace one’s culture wholesomely without question is also foolish on
the same footing.
When your culture keeps you from exploring the world that is
beyond and keeps you caged within the confines of your surroundings then it
limits your possibilities. Anytime you ask why some thing is and the only
answer you receive is that we have always done it, it is time to question that
thinking so you can come to a better conclusion. Don’t be one to blindly accept
it because it is the norm. One of my Nigerian friends once said that ‘the
longevity of an abnormality does not make it normal.’ Think about our
pastoralist friends whose ancestors have lived on cattle rustling and it is
ingrained in them from, a young age. If someone with a better understanding and
intellectual capacity from these tribes still goes ahead to spend his life in
the same village engaging in this practice just because it is his cultural
heritage, hasn’t this person failed? Would we be right to say that he has
wasted his intellect in the process? Well he could be within his rights as an
individual to choose that life but the truth is that he has allowed culture to
keep him caged though he knows better.
What aspects of your cultural heritage do you think has been
keeping you from becoming all you can be? What do you have to celebrate about
your culture in that it has made you a better person? Remember more than 80% of
your culture has a lot that is good about it.
Environment
Closely related to culture is the environment in which you
grow up or operate in. there are always exceptions but more often than not, you
are likely to end up like the people in the environment in which you frequent. It is said that if you visit some of the
informal settlements in Nairobi, they can tell you are an outsider. The dress
code and mannerism will sell you out quickly. Every neighborhood has certain
quirks that distinguish it from others. If crime is the norm in your
neighborhood, chances are that you will become comfortable around crime whether
you like it or not. Alliance High School has been known to produce a majority
of the crème de la crème of Kenya’s society. There is something that
environment teaches you that you won’t find in many other places. This is such
a big deal because even if you are average at best, being in that environment
pushes you to level up quickly. There is a confidence that comes on you when
you know that you are associated with greatness. You can’t help but be great.
Living in California exposes you to Hollywood and a lot of what happens on the
entertainment scene globally that it becomes natural for anyone who wants to
make it big in this particular area to find their way there. We coalesce around
people of similar interests because we like familiarity. You must choose your
surroundings carefully because they will rub off on you whether you like it or
not. This doesn’t mean that if you find yourself somewhere not suited to your
ambitions you won’t make it. People have still made it but it was way harder.
Designing the kind of environment that allows you to bring out the best in you
will go a long way in helping you thrive. It is way easier than trying to work
against many odds.
How can you change your environment to position you to bring
out the best in you? What is keeping you from doing so right away?
We continue next week so be sure to catch us here.
in the meantime share your takeaways from this first part of or discussion.
No comments:
Post a Comment