I got this title from one of my favorite classical pieces and also one of the greatest works of music in the world by Ludwig Van Beethoven.
The Journey, Believe, Belong, Become, for the four years I have been in this university I have never understood this till recently. This is a family, the people who are members are so proud of it and I see it in peoples profiles on twitter and Facebook. I wondered why they are so into it and so I started attending to see what the hype was all about. The experience was astounding. It is a place where young people meet to profess their faith and learn how to live walking along a righteous path.it is a religious group but yet has the air of a concert, it is a place where people say things, make jokes and sing and encourage and still maintain the bond of a family and a close family at that, almost everybody knows the other people in the place, I thought I would feel out of place because nobody knew me but was I wrong, even strangers high five you and talk to you as if you have been lifelong friends.
I went to a camp (my 1st one ever) and it was so much fun. The fun was in that I got to play games, something I haven’t done since I was a kid. It reminded me that I am not as young as I used to be, now every part of my body hurts, I’m like some geriatric man who complains when he walks too much. I can either resign myself to never doing anything physical again…or I can get more exercise. My mum seems to think I should do more exercise since she is worried about my health and the risk of heart conditions. Anyway,that’s not the point.
In this camp I went with a group of people who I have always thought never existed. I was a member of a 6 person team and we chose TIMBUKTU as the name of our team, to go with this awesome name we had an equally awesome dance which I couldn’t do very well because I have two left feet and the rhythm of an elephant. My team members were, BRIAN, NICHOLAS, FAITH, BILLUPS AND BRENDA. I am violating the rules of grammar and capitalizing their names because these people very probably changed my life.
These were people who listened to everything you said no matter how trivial, they gave you their undivided attention when you spoke, they never judged you no matter what you said or how your past life has been. I can honestly say I have never come across a more understanding and inspiring group of people. I’m used to the kind of people who boo you and heckle when you say something they don’t like….they also seemingly have a wide array of choice insults to choose from when they decide to insult you….which is almost a daily occurrence. So you can understand my hesitation to say anything at that camp.
But as I went on, I gradually realized that these were not judgmental people and so when my turn came to talk, boy did I talk. I opened up to a group of strangers and told them things I have never told anybody, It was like the floodgates had opened, bits of information even I didn’t know I could say in public came spewing out and they still listened earnestly. At the end of my tirade there were so many words of encouragement I seriously felt overwhelmed. Here were people who do not even know my 2nd name paying attention to me and caring more than people I had known for years.
I also learnt that every one of us has a story, I talked a lot but I also listened. Sometimes I used to think that only old people had something worthwhile to say about life because they had lived it. But boy was I wrong. This was a group of my age mates and they told me things I needed to hear
One thing I was told is that, people only look at you according to how you look at yourself. If you think you are a failure then other people will latch on to that and everybody will think you a failure. I remember once 3 years ago a lady who was a friend of mine told me, you are a cute guy but you have the ugliest dental formula. This really got to me, I had always felt self-conscious about the spaces between my front teeth and that was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back, I always covered my mouth when I was laughing and avoided smiling in photos because I believed I had ugly teeth.id like to say that with time it all went away but in reality I still avoid smiling in photos and I laugh with my mouth hidden.
So my team members told me that if what physical deformity you have never caused you to lack friends, then it was not a problem, and I thought about it. Nobody ever came to me and told me, you have messed up teeth so being friends with you is kind of impossible. Matter of fact, I’ve got some people who like the spaces and so I decided, why concentrate on the negative, if one person says something affirmative and a thousand say something negative, I think it’s more prudent to concentrate on the positive.
Another issue was doing what makes you happy. In recent times, we are all doing things to ensure we get jobs or earn a lot of money, but very few of us do what actually makes us happy. I was told that no matter what you do, do it because you love doing it, God will cater to the finances, leave everything to Him. Here another problem arose, not many people know exactly what they want to do. I was one of these people until this year when I realized that I want to do anything that helps me understand society or people in general, which is why sociology appeals to me so much, so dropping economics didn’t make sense to a lot of people, still doesn’t, problem is the constant nagging question, what will you do with sociology, this cannot help, but I choose to leave that up to God, He had a plan for me, He knew why He sent me here and I will trust Him that He will show me the way.
I also learnt that life is too short for you to do things you don’t like, or things that try to influence people’s opinions of you.in my view, do whatever you want, don’t worry about detractors, they will always be there. Do you and leave everybody else to their devices.
The kind of friends you keep also affect who you are as a person. All we do sometimes is try to get peoples validation and these people don’t even matter as much as we they do. Real friends help you grow and never put you down. I realized that I needed to find friends that are going to encourage me and help me become a better version of myself.
The people in my group in themselves had very inspiring stories, Brian changing himself to a person who could be a role model, Brenda going through so much for one so young and still keeping the faith and managing to put a smile on her and other people’s faces, Faith taking peoples negativity and turning it to positivity, Nicholas fighting temptations that we succumb to every day, Billups being so talented and focused on a dream that he has. I felt so honored to have heard these peoples stories and hope that I too may achieve the change I want in myself.to be honest I hate the person I have become in the last few years, I want to be a person who can be emulated, I want to live in such a way that should death come today, me and people who know me will not be worried because they will know that I am in heaven.
However living a righteous life is not easy, sinning is incredibly simple, but staying away from sin and other temptations is a herculean task.im I perfect? No. I’m I trying to be perfect? No even the Bible says no one is perfect but I will make sure that though I am not perfect, I will try my level best to live up to what is expected from me both by fellow man and by God.
We do not know how far the ripples of our decisions go, people may not know when they impact you in any way but I’m sure that one day they will see your achievements and remember that they knew you one day. So all in the journey is a safe asylum for all, keep doing what you do you are all blessed and may you continue to inspire this and future generations. Bonne continuation, mes amities.
I may fall off the band wagon a few times but I am determined, to walk a straight path headed towards the only place that matters. Keep praying for me.
À la prochaine
Impression 