You die once. Of course, unless you are a coward. It is natural to help or to desire to help. Never hold yourself back just because you fear the possible consequences, however improbable, of extending help. And for every problem, the solution lies within. All it takes is looking hard enough. When Oluoch rallied passersby to help an individual experiencing an epileptic episode, they discovered, within his bag, both his medicine and water – all he needed to save his life.
Lessons From A Perfect Score
Be creative
When faced with hard times, split paths if you must while staying true to the cause. Understand the objective and develop proper plans. This attitude was a key component of how Oluoch’s family sailed through the 1984 famine.
Ensure discipline
Success takes an incredible amount of discipline. When established in children’s formative years, this endures for a lifetime. Sometimes it takes the likes of Mrs. Maina’s Blackie to keep boys on the “straight and narrow” path. Before reaching a conclusion, do your fact-finding and base your actions only on facts or probable facts.
In going after your opportunity, be like a child
Children are geniuses at applying faith. The excitement and energy that children exude has the tendency to help them experience a feeling of the event before the event. That is all there is to manifestation. The dream of meeting Father Christmas lived with the author for an entire night, and his Red Brigade Toy Truck came to tell him that positive anticipation is no vanity.
When faced with anxiety, calm your nerves
As Oluoch learned, the agony of waiting for the birth of his daughter, Akinyi, was more punishing than the actual event. Would it not have been most profitable for this young father to train his mind and repeatedly imagine the statement “Clifford, meet Akinyi.” This helps bypass the worries of the processes, and helps you see the outcome before the outcome.
Do not agonize over challenges
Always remember this precept: All things go well. Oluoch searched far and wide for their dog, Bella, who was safely rolled in a rag right inside the house. Learn to exhaust easier possibilities before going after “far-fetched” likelihoods. This will save you both a trip and a drenching. Sometimes we go to the end of the world and back in search of the yearnings of our hearts only to realize that our treasure quietly lies within. This treasure is HAPPINESS.
Nature is always aiding us against misfortunes
How we push back is so subtle that we hardly notice our own sabotage. The person who came between Oluoch and Benedette could easily have cost them their seats in the Matatu and saved Benedette’s ring.
Humility is humanity
We have a culture that glorifies academic prowess over other talents and intelligence. What did Dilraj Sokhi’s rewarding Michael Thanga with his academic pennant come to tell us? It came to tell us that excellence is non-linear, and everyone excels in their own calling, as did Thanga in sports.
Be cautious; the world is as risky as it is needy
When helping, watch out lest you be taken advantage of. The story of Tony Enkai and the lengths he went to just to take advantage of the teacher who was doing his part to make the world a better place is conscience-pricking. Discern the incorrigible from the corrigible and isolate them even as a farmer winnows chaff off her grains.
Make the best of your life and live to the fullest
When the hour comes to transition into the “sphere of darkness”, accept it and go out under your terms. Oluoch’s dad, Robert Oluoch Mango, made his own desired send-off, complete with pomp and fanfare, and that is a life well-lived.
Master problem delimitation
In every call to provide any solution, define your purpose and set limits. Failure to do this opens the floodgates and sets you up for distraction and possible destruction. Oluoch just wanted to feed the needy but found himself taking care of rent obligations, funerals and even domestic disputes involving runaway adolescents.
Set rules and enforce them for the greater good of the entire group
When Akweya Simekha chose to “bask” in the warm shower instead of just taking a shower, the other students found creative ways to sensitize him to the welfare of everyone else. Make your norms in your microculture. The people who wander too far off only find their way back when redirected.
Teachers should teach students, not subjects
Education should be intended and structured to draw out the best, not to cram children up to kingdom come. Because all that is needed for a successful life already preexists within the child.
Always go the extra mile
Just beyond the edge of your known limits is the starting point of new boundless opportunities for growth. Dare to explore. Like Oluoch explored the Premier Academy, for example.
