Embarrassment !

                                                    

I must admit that i am afraid of embarrassments, but most of the time we encounter them when we least expect to. I remember back when i was in high school, we used to have inter-house competitions in various sports and performing arts such as choir, drama, traditional dance and poetry. I used to participate fully in choir and i was among the few who would stand in the front line. Always three or four choir leaders (or more depending on the choice of the respective house) would stand in the front line and these were like a point reference for the entire performance , especially when it comes to dancing. So when picking up the front liners, they would normally choose those who were brisk and doing everything right, putting into consideration that this was a competition and whatever mistake one person makes regardless of their positions, could mean reduction of marks and lowering the overall winning chances of the house. With this in mind, like everyone else in the front line, i would always try to put up the best performance i could, and i was always recommended for that. But there was this one time ( i guess it just was not my day) when i missed out a step or two while dancing and singing. While others, in fact everyone else went down kneeling i was the only one standing! and  i was dancing in the front line with 3 or 2 other people. After realizing that i was the only person standing i quickly tried to gather myself and go with the flow but it was too late. Whatever i could do at that moment could not change the fact that i had already let my house down and let alone my own good self. IT WAS SO EMBARRASSING. The whole school was watching, this included students(other houses/clusters/competitors), teachers and other members of the staff. And in these kind of competitions, all other contenders watching you perform, are just hoping and waiting for you to make a slight mistake, for that would automatically boost their chances of winning. This was such an overwhelming incident for me. Now, when i think about it, i feel like it was just a very minor issue, but it actually spoiled my day, or probably my entire week at the time.

Sometimes it is those very minor issues that put us down. It is those very minor issues that drive us into embarrassments and crash us down. Over the years i have come into a realization that embarrassments could only haunt us for as long as we allow them to. Whenever you are embarrassed just try to look at the bigger picture. The first thing you should remember whenever you encounter an embarrassment is that you are not the first person in this planet to be embarrassed and you wont be the last. Secondly you should remind yourself  that your embarrassing moment is probably not the worst embarrassment of all. And lastly you should bear in mind that even the most influential, powerful, successful and iconic figures do get embarrassed at some point and bad enough, for them it even happens when they are live on national television. So when you are embarrassed instead of dwelling on it you might as well think of just trying to get over it, move on and wait for another one! The bad news is that we do not have control over embarrassing moments because they happen unexpectedly but the good news is that you can get over it!Of course only if you chose to do so. Dr Myles Munroe once said "Your Past is dead expect for the life you give it" You cannot work on your past, it is already gone, but you can definitely work on your present.

" The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate"~Douglas Engelbart

Is it Ignorance or Arrogance?

We all at some point love attention, enjoy recognition and appreciate it when we are being appreciated. Even though most us love attention and recognition, not all of us are brave enough to go out seeking for that attention or recognition. We have often referred to those who are brave enough to do that as "attention seekers" maybe simply because we think that they need it more than we do. I think its human nature to desire to be recognized or appreciated.

Have you ever offered something to someone as a present? or done something for someone as a favour? or offered some kind of assistance to someone out of your own good will? Well my question does not end there, my question is, have you ever done any of those things to someone, and end up not receiving any kind of feedback from them? I think i have and this always leaves me with a lot of questions. Sometimes you think maybe the message, the present or the favor never reached the intended person and you decide to call or email that person to confirm only to find out that they actually were delivered. And what disappoints most is when the person acts like what you did was your responsibility and hence they owe you nothing.

When people are being ungrateful, i keep on asking myself is it out ignorance or arrogance? It's always recommended to do good to people without expecting anything in return, but we can't deny that it always delights our hearts when people are being appreciative, it always brightens up our moods to realize that you have been of a certain assistance to someone, it always puts a smile on our faces to hear the words "Thank you". But why is it difficult for people to utter these words at times? Are they being arrogant or ignorant?

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it "~ William Ward

Who is your Role model??

           

            Life and time are the best teachers ever and they have taught me that nobody is perfect. I believe each and every individual has the best and the worst in them. Most of the people do look up to their parents; some do look up to those famous, most successful individuals in the society, people like Tiger Woods, the ones we could refer to as societal role models. But somewhere along the way life takes a toll on these individuals, the worst comes out of them and we get disappointed. I have realized that all these people are not perfect and I would not therefore take one person entirely to be my role model. However I do look up to different individuals and take up bits of the best they have got. The least successful, the least famous person could be my role model at a particular time for a particular reason. I think of that mother in the village, with a little baby who is only a few months old. She wakes up in the morning, early in the morning before the dawn while her husband is still sleeping; carry her baby in her back, carry her hoe and march to the farm. She farms all day long, sometimes under the hot sun and sometimes under the heavy rains. At noon she stops for a while to eat the little food she had left from the previous night, after that, she breast-feeds her baby and goes back to tilling the farm. In the evening when the sun is setting she marches back home again with her baby in the back. She reaches home and finds it the way she left it in the morning. No food prepared and the husband is nowhere to be found (he is probably sipping some local brew in a nearby local joint). She does not complain, she puts her baby aside, she walks to the nearby bush she picks up a few wooden sticks and uses to them to light up the fire. She then starts cooking for the family. The husband comes back home drunk and hungry starting to demand for food and at the same time yelling at her and complaining why the dinner is late. He calls her names, and throws a number of insults at her. Yet without complaining she serves him food, they eat she washes the dishes and ensures that everything is in order before going to sleep. She is the last one to sleep and the first one to wake up, and that is her routine and she doesn’t complain!! Shouldn’t I look up to that woman before I open up my mouth to complain over an issue so irrelevant? Shouldn’t she be my role model for that particular time when I think that I have so much to do, and life is complicated?Maybe I do not have a specific role model yet.