BOYS 2 MEN

Pacing expectantly through the lobby, sweating profusely under the ice-cold air condition, waiting anxiously as the clock ticks by, asking the same question over a million times within such a short time...Praying that someone will finally be the harbinger of the great news…"Nurse how far" was the question that came through his buccal-cavity directed at the tired looking nurse who just strolled out of the labor room that has been shut for several hours . "Congrats, it's a boy" was the answer. Finally, their waiting period was over, a boy has been born...born to make a difference, born to be a change agent in his time, born with zillions of innate potentials, born to be great, born to impact the world with the investment of his personality. Little did we know that this boy though loaded with myriads of potentials will not automatically be all that he's been crafted to be? He’s got a big question mark hanging over his head, a question he must during his life’s foray find answers to for in the answer is the key to unlocking the vista of opportunities life will be throwing at him. He must answer the question “What on earth am I here for”? He's got work to do and herein lays the difference.

The phenomenon called time is witty in several respects chief of which lies in the fact that it has precipitated a myth that presents it as the almighty antidote to solving all of the riddles a man will be presented with during his life’s endeavors hence the popular axiom "time heals all wounds". However, it has to become abundantly clear to this boy that the journey to manhood is not to be attained only as time unfolds, nay; this boy has to unfold his sleeves and get to work. You don't become a man by passing time, accepting whatever life tosses at you, hoping that in the sweet-by-and-by things will ultimately turn out well. This boy needs to know that you don't become a man by developing some attractive masculine biceps, cultivating some thick bushes of hair called moustache on the soil of your face, speaking with some thick baritone voice or better still chasing ladies in the neighborhood to satisfy some hormonal instincts, far from it, becoming a man comes with one word RESPONSIBILITY.

Yeah you cultivate being responsible by taking on responsibilities. Sorry to burn your cable friend, you don't become a man simply because you are thirty or forty years old, we've got loads of forty-year-old-boys walking the streets of our world...look around you I bet you'll see them in their numbers. Funny enough the word responsibility is a compound word (a permutation of two words: RESPONSE & ABILITY). Yes, it is your ability to respond to the things life throws at you in a way that whatever it is, you become better and wiser. It is your ability to spring into action and not just being docile accepting everything as your fate. It is your ability to squeeze out lemonade out of the several bitter lemons life throws at you. It is your ability to rise up after every fall with invaluable experiences to become a better person. It is your ability to build a tastefully furnished mansion out of the tons of stones and bricks life tosses at you. It is your ability to go from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. It is your ability to move on with determination to succeed despite all odds. It is your ability to stick your neck out, stick to your convictions even though the whole world against you convene. It is your ability to believe in yourself and the potentials you carry even if no one believes in you. Bottom line, becoming a man lies in your ability. Man is not what you become as you pass through time; man is what you become as you get processed by time. Don't go through life wishing that things just turn out fine, work through life willing to turn the tide in your favor, remember "if wishes were horses, even beggars will ride". You deserve the very best, it's time for you to demand for it...stop being a boy, be a man: hit the ground running and let's meet at the convocation of great men where I look forward to proposing a toast in celebration of your humongous achievements as a man indeed. See you there and please don't be late - you won't keep great men waiting will you?