What makes one person believe in themselves when a million other people doubt their capabilities? What make one girl believe that their voice will be heard and their writing still be read in an already crowded platform. What makes one to keep dreaming even when they feel the greatest fear in their heart? Sometimes it has very little to do with their capabilities or them being outstanding, but it has more to do with the words they carry in their hearts.
I was in standard three when my late teacher, Ms Mosomong, taught our class the basics of writing poetry. She was a very strict woman with no room for laziness or nonsense. Hard work was the most important thing to her. That day I wrote a poem entitled “the giraffe”. Back then the giraffe was my favourite animal, in some way it still is, for different reasons. As a child I was fascinated by its height and its colours. Today I like it because it stands as a symbol of success; it grazes where other animals cannot graze, it walks with so much grace and confidence.
After marking my poem, my teacher said something that I would never forget. She said I wrote from the heart and she said I was meant to fly. She said I was going to be flying in aero planes going places someday. To a village girl who had never flown in aero planes, those words stuck with me forever. I was an extremely introverted child, while it felt uneasy being complimented, I secretly cherished the words she said. Sadly she has passed on, but her words will live eternally in my heart.
I grew up knowing that I was meant to fly, on days where my thoughts would tell me otherwise, these are the words that keep me going. Words can break or make us. Words can build or destroy dreams.
Words can make it easy for us to dream
When you watch the lives of successful people, those who dared to dream, you will learn this one thing; successful people have held onto words that fueled their dreams. When we carry words in our hearts that add value to our lives, when everything else tells us that it cannot be done, the words make it easier for us to keep dreaming.
Ben Carson one of the world’s most renowned neurosurgeons, in his book “Gifted Hands” writes about how he started off as a poor performing student.He was convinced that he was the dumbest kid in Michigan, with reports and test scripts that served only to confirm his opinion. The other kids called him “dummy”. It was his mother who said to him that he can be anything he want to be. She encouraged him to read two books every week his life was changed. He ran with the mother’s words, he started believing he can become anything he wants to be. He became the first surgeon to separate Siamese twins joined at the head with both surviving.
At 57 he was awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom for his groundbreaking contributions to medicine. It is hard to imagine that a man one referred to as a dummy has made great strides in the medical world. What kept Carson dreaming? His mother’s words that it can be done.
Words shape us
Richard Branson’s headmaster told him he would either end in prison or become a millionaire. He has launched more than 400 businesses with Virgin group, exploring a range of industries such as airlines, hotels, banks, mobile-phone companies and space tourism. The words shaped him and he is now a household name, much more than a millionaire.
Now what?
“You can change your world by changing your words,” Joel Oesteen
I am a girl on my way to “who I am”. My teacher’s words shaped me, they made me believe I have a chance and a place in this world.
Now let me challenge you. Long after you have gone your words too, will stay in somebody’s heart. Every day you are given an opportunity to change someone’s world through your words. While it is okay to change the world in big ways you should also do the simple yet mundane and change the world with your words. Amidst negativity learn to say the words that build. Go give someone words to believe in.
A man is as powerful or as weak as the words he believe in. Dee’s tweetables