You are AMAZING!

Believe and Act So!

You want to discover how amazing you are? This piece is not for you, I have no power to help anyone discover how marvelous they are. With all honesty and sincerity, I have no such powers. What I have is nothing magical, its what you have been told each day, each stage of your life. I bet a thousand times you must have been told "You are amazing" a thousand times you were filled with joy, a thousand times you were proud of yourself; Why? people know that you are amazing and that feels cool!

Mine is simple. Point out to you why you being amazing is not just mere words of inspiration that gives you joy for while, then you get back to your old self. 

Some years back I meet some guy in college, this was my first week  in college and its was during orientation. Mike, the friend I just met in my first week in college shared with me something that I have never forgotten to date. He came from rural Kenya, but the guy was intelligent as I came to realize later on. On the other hand, he lacked exposure, off course he had never been to any city in the country and that was his first time in the city. Mike told me he was grateful he was born in a humble background and he spent all life in the rural looking after cattle. Very surprised I asked him why? (You see, I have never met a being so proud of his/her status in the village, everyone I met wanted to be in the city) So with that look of Are you serious I asked Mike why he was proud of his village upbringing?  he told me before we graduated he will explain to me what he meant. He also told me one thing that his grandmother said to him a night before he came to college. "You are amazing"

That was it, 5 Minutes chat, and we were done. Thereafter, we met in college twice, each time just saluting to one another, semesters came and went, I now had my crew of friends, and everything seemed to move on perfectly well for me, the orientation incident with Mike never at any instance played in mind, both us of being in different schools and Mike at that time had no phone, getting into contact was difficult, either way I had scribbled to him my phone number and expected him to call anytime, which he didn't and it never bothered me.

Years down the line, during clearance from college and getting ready for graduation I get a call from a new number and on the other end was Mike, he wanted to fulfill his promise, we arranged to meet during the evening after the ups and downs of walking from one office to another. Surprisingly, Mike had not changed much, you see when you are campus, you are the cream of the society, you are a role model, more so if you are from the village and seemingly you the only one who's lucky to get to campus. In short, I expected to see a different Mike, dressed to kill, or had some afro, like I did, to distinguish him from the local villager, but Mike was the same guy I meet close to four years back, then I said in my heart, (some people can never just change).

Peter, you looking good and decent he said to me (I my heart I was like, c'mon dude I am a university student what do you expect) either way I thanked him and felt like he was wasting my time. You see, once in campus you form a group of friends and sometimes you get used to that team and anyone else out of that cycle is either not fun to be with or he is just not your league, that's exactly how I felt when we met with Mike on this evening. An evening that was going to change my life without my knowledge.

What are your plans after graduation? he asked me, I told him off course go get some job. He looked at me and said, "I am happy I was born and raised in the village" "I came here with one agenda, get knowledge and exposure to my dreams", that's is what I did. Surprised I did not know what he was speaking of because everyone goes to college to get knowledge and exposure to their dreams. He continued to say, on that orientation day, I repeated my grandmother's words that "I am amazing" not only did I just memorize them, I decided in my heart that I was going to live and act as one who is amazing. True to that, as we speak, after graduation I am flying out to France for a one year young professional program on youth and culture with some organization, thereafter I have the option to register for a free scholarship for my masters.

Perplexed I looked at Mike, one, this is a dude from the Kalenjin village who had no connection with any powerful person in the government, how could he supposedly, be flying out to France, let alone secure a scholarship for his Masters? He asked me whether I had seen the application for the same in the university website or the student's Main Notice board at the administration, then I remember I had seen the notice, with some course mates and we decided against applying for it. He to said to me, painful words that hit me to date. Peter "I am happy I was born in the village and I discovered I was amazing, this is the drive that forced me to apply for the vacancy while in 2nd year and attend several online interviews which for sure I passed".

As we finished our talk, I wished him all the best in life, he looked at me and said "You are amazing" that should be enough for you. That night I lay in bed asking myself several questions, wondering why, I had not kept Mike as a close friend, probably, he could have motivated me to apply for the vacancy too. I asked myself, why I was not born and raised in my rural village, probably I could have the same drive in life. Then reality hit me hard, that after graduation, I stood the chance of facing the world alone, and I had no plans ahead, as for Mike, despite the fact that he came from the village he remained focused on his purpose, he  knew that he was amazing and he was flying out of the country as I was going to being tarmacking. 

That night, I made resolutions, I needed to act first, one I dropped and cut connection from people who had no vision, two I decided in my heart that whatever I was going to do, I was to do it knowing that I am amazing. Three, I was going to give my best to everything that I was going to do. True to it, that largest driving force of my life has been knowledge that "I am amazing" Mike is now a big shot in the NGO world, we cannot compare our lifestyle but I am in the right path and my goals are focused on becoming better with each day, knowing that "I am Amazing" 

What do I have for you? Absolutely nothing but to tell you the same words Mike's grandma said to him that did not make any sense to me during the orientation, words that are the driving force of my life.

YOU ARE AMAZING!

I am out and stay Blessed. Shalom!