BUILD YOUR OWN TABLE!
My Dad was an academic and he saw himself in the hallways of academia, a researcher, a teacher and a guru in his profession of training. But, he realized earlier than most, that the world will not make it easy for you, especially if you are a foreigner and a refugee who wasn’t meant to stay but was forced by unfortunate circumstances to live in a country not his own.
If there had been no war, he would have climbed the rungs and ladders of academia and research in our country he would have walked a different path. Every time he would try to advance, to get scholarships, nothing was forthcoming.
It was as if the hand of destiny stood firmly in his way. In the end it was his son and not him who ended up going to his dream University. Was it terrible that he didn’t succeed?… Maybe, maybe not, but the young girls and boys he educated throughout the war through the schools they built would think differently.
They remain forever grateful that he walked a different path, one that would land him, not in academia, but on a path that would see him spend the greater part of his life as a humanitarian. A path that he had not considered and would have never imagined in his wildest dreams.
And so, realizing that there would be no path in exile for him in academia, he took a different route and sought to serve his people instead. He built his own table and because of that, many others had a chance to sit at that table and find their own paths.
When my brother first went back home his plan was to work in an establishment that had a name, under someone who had built his name, he did that for a long time. Everyday he would wake up and do what he believed he was called to do. He would walk the path that society expected of him. But as we all know, our destiny never stops calling no matter how complacent we are and no matter how much we try to hide from it.
Despite the fear of the unknown and the fear of failure, in a room where one could hardly breathe, in a place where many laughed at him. He started a venture that propelled him to levels he had never thought possible, that is a story for another day. He… built his own table.
You see when you have a dream, people will laugh at you and you will be despised. They will call you a fool, a dreamer. For many do not have the courage to take the first step… the fear of failure always stops us in our tracks. But the truth is, everything we see around us was built by people who despite their fear, made the choice to stop waiting for others to give them a seat. They took the chance to follow their paths and succeeded.
Tyler Perry, African American Actor, Producer and owner of the Tyler Perry studios known for his most famous role as Madea, when he won a much coveted award in Hollywood recounted the path that had led him down that road and the many rejections he got for his ideas. He spoke of the people who could not wait to tell him he would fail and expected him to. He spoke of almost giving up but never loosing hope.
As he stood up to receive the award, he uttered words that we should all never forget, “While they waited for a seat at the table… I built my own.”
Do not wait for the world to give you a seat at the table. Build your own!
My Dad with the children who will never forget his contributions to education, Kajokeji, South Sudan 1996
