Yes! It’s all coming back to me. The words are still very clear nearly twenty-five years after they were first spoken to me. “The school you are going to...nobody comes second, everybody comes first,” my mom told me. She added, “They give prizes and certificates to all who come first.” I was on the verge of changing primary schools and those words were a tonic. I took them, hook, line and sinker. “I’ve got to be first too then,” I told myself. “And receive the gifts and certificates.”
That was all I needed for a swell time in my educational pursuits. It was a rallying point that saw me make progress from the fifth position, through fourth to second and eventually first in four consecutive terms. I was over the roof. One day, I heard these words “that’s the boy that came first” from another classmate, even as she pointed my way. I felt good and also kept my place at the top throughout primary school.
In secondary school, I needed no additional impetus. I needed to stay tops. Though it was in bits and pieces, those pieces were the most crucial attention grabbing ones. The bits also came with plenty of publicity with numerous accolades to show for them. I did just enough to be considered as one of the brightest in academic work.
University posed its challenges, but I was never going to give in. No never! I had come too far; I just could not give up. “I’ve got to make it. I just have to,” I kept telling myself. I did just that. In the midst of turmoil, I picked up some courage and pulled through in the tightest of situations.
I had been set up by my mum. I just could not afford to bungle the great belief my mother had in me. I knew my mother trusted me to pull through even the tightest of angles, if it came to my academics. Even in these days, she does that subtly. She makes me know that my place is at the top - before mean men. These days I feel, I’m even closer than I can imagine. Step by step, my mom had set me up. She had put some self belief in me and told me of the immense potentials and backings I had at my disposal. She made me think special about myself.
Every day that comes my way, I believe I’ve got it inside of me to pull through. The days I could not brace up, God did step in. I can go that far, to highest pinnacle of every endeavour. I was told and supported along those lines. I’ve got to spread the word to my siblings, friends, relations, children, colleagues, associates. I have to let them know they can go that far - to the very top of their dreams and visions.
