The Sunday Mail
Jnr Sen Tapiwa Bengewa
Gokomere High School, Form 3
IN a hurry to exit the school library, I flipped through the pages of a popular newspaper, taking a glimpse of the top stories.
It was not a crime story, obituary, or political scandal that held my brown eyes like a vice but a congratulatory message.
The face that was pinned on the message had become familiar. What made the face familiar was not that I had had a face to face encounter but through newspapers. ‘When winning becomes a habit’, the quote that added adrenalin into my body. I wanted to know how, why and what made him to sit on the leather armchair he posed for the photo in. He dines with the archangels of our government; his brother was a top-gun in the political arena.
Just like Zaccheus who craved to know about Jesus of Nazareth who had taken his Doctor Luke, Fisherman Peter, Matthew the Tax Collector with him, I ran a search on the internet. He is a man of mature years but with incredible brains of a Rhodes Scholar. His house and office are full of awards including the one he recently received. When he was growing up, it is said he lived a life that just hovered above the poverty datum line. Curiosity made him sick of being merely an observer of the good life than a participant. His parents made sure that he did every level of education.
He is a well learned man and truly knows his books. The man, on the expense of his life, worked so hard, turning every stone looking for the pot of gold. Fortunately, he found it, today he stands proudly among the best leaders of our teapot shaped nations` education system. The gift of leadership did not come on a silver platter but is a craft that has been chiselled over the years. Curiosity can catapult you to even greater heights.
Curiosity is a zero pollutant fuel that burns in our mind to attain certain goals. Jason Vutete once said, ‘Craving for something makes you stronger on the way to get it.’ If you really want to achieve something it means you are ready to risk everything. Success belongs to risk takers.
Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will. Famous British statesman and orator, Sir Winston Churchill once said, ‘A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.’
It is you who chooses which calibre to fall in. The man from the newspaper congratulatory message chose to be an optimist. The way you view problems determines who you are, where you are standing and heading to. You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream. Never let the past determine who you are and where you are heading.
Planning for the future can be successful by first assessing the present situation. You can never solve a problem without a formula. Make plans on how you will achieve your goals, even when there are no resources.
The man on the newspapers understood that resources are not limitations. Heavyweight champion, Muhammad Ali, once said, ‘Whatever the mind can conceive and believe; the mind can achieve.’ If you believe that tables do turn, you can achieve anything beyond your own imagination.
Some say life is a wheel but to me life is like climbing a mountain, if you want to reach the peak push harder. Every mountain climber has his own methods of reaching the top. You have to set up your own method that is positive and does not harm the person next to you.
None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except if we listen to the whisper that is heard by us alone. We have an inner man who has a voice. If we listen to the voice inside us, we get unique methods to climb the mountain of life.
Have that desire to achieve more and to set new standards. What I am very sure about is that if you do not pursue your own dream, someone will hire you to help them pursue theirs. The man I saw from the newspaper is Great Zimbabwe University’s Vice Chancellor Professor Rungano Jonas Zvobgo, who won the Vice Chancellor for 2016 award. Congratulations Professor, continue aiming higher.
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