“When is your next ‘motivational’ piece going up on your blog?” I have had to cleverly dodge this question anytime I’m asked since ‘Who Are You?’ was posted in November last year.

I always changed the subject when a reader bothered to find out. But one avid reader of my posts beat me to my game and ‘extorted’ an answer from me. And when I told him I was on a short break, he minced no words in telling me “it’s a sign of failure”. He went on to tell me why he thought so, but I won’t bore you with that. Initially, I thought he was jesting, but I was mistaken when I saw no smile form on his face.

Honestly, I felt lethargic writing anything after that piece as I hadn’t been ‘motivated’ by any circumstance…absolutely nothing. But his advice kept sounding in my ears each time I saw him. And I said a silent prayer to God to give me something to write about, like I do after every piece I write.

That motivation didn’t come when I expected it. Well, maybe it did but I wasn’t giving situations around me the necessary attention they deserved then. I had arrived home from work one evening and went straight for the remote control to catch an EPL game. I punched the wrong button which took me to CCTVD where a documentary on Chinese Bamboo was showing. Even though the EPL game had started about 15 minutes before I got home, I decided to spare some few minutes and watch that documentary. I was blown away by what I gathered that evening, and I’ll endeavour to share my very short musings with you in the next few sentences.

This particular bamboo’s seedling is sowed together with other seeds. Days become weeks. Weeks become months. Then tiny vegetations pierce through the soil in germination. After some few months, they take their true form and it’s realized that our seed didn’t make the cut. Perhaps, it didn’t receive enough sunlight or food from the soil. It failed in life!

But wait! Something sprouts after about 5 years in the soil. When everyone has forgotten about it and written it off, it sprouts. Yes, it does! Not only does it show ‘tiny vegetation’, but it grows by about 30cm every 24 hours. Yes! You read right. EVERY 24 HOURS! It only stops growing when it’s towered every other plant surrounding it.

Oftentimes, we are just like that seed. We start off our lives, together with our contemporaries with some zeal to make it. But the realities of life set in and throw plans overboard. One seems to do all the right things but the situation still persists. The pain is exacerbated when one meets his mates a couple of years later and find that they have made it. They drive in flashy cars and live in palaces, with a beautiful family too. Then you ask yourself questions like “where did I go wrong?”…. “Am I cursed?”….. “Did God not create me too?” It’s very frustrating, I know. Especially when you think you were way better than they were back in school.

You know, during the seed’s 5 year stay in the soil, it wasn’t just lying dormant. It just wasn’t biding its time. It was growing very strong roots to sustain its gargantuan stature when it sprouts. Imagine if it grew at such speed without a very strong base. It’ll die soon after piercing the top soil. But with its deep roots, it still stands firm when it rains heavily or the sun scorches. What’s more? It develops a very thick bark which makes it extremely difficult to cut down even with a chainsaw.

So hear me: “the race is not for the swift, neither is the battle for the strong, but that time and chance happens to them all”. Just keep going. Don’t give up! Yes, you’ll fall a couple of times, but just get back up and keep going. They’ll laugh at you, but you don’t give up, dear reader! Just keep brightening the corner you find yourself, and you’ll soon realize that they’ll be looking for that shining light in the corner to place it on higher pedestal. My very good friend, Kwame Simpeh Jnr puts it succinctly: “Keep practicing, keep dancing even to the faded tunes. Just be unstoppable!”   

Recently, my employer decided to recognize some past and present individuals who have made their mark in the company by placing their framed pictures on a Wall Of Heroes. Some employees thought some people didn’t ‘deserve’ to be called Heroes. I thought same too, but I quickly changed my stance when I realized that there was nothing anyone could do about it. The board had made their decision and it was final. It dawned on me that when that candlelight in the corner is being placed on the higher pedestal, you will find people who think that candle doesn't deserve to be placed on a bigger platform where all will applaud its efforts. But the haters are not God! When He wills it, nothing can stop it. Just keep praying and putting in that effort.

My name is Paa Kwesi Bentum Williams. Don’t bury me, for I’m a seed. I’ll sprout to your surprise and displeasure! My haters are not God!

PS: This is a sequel to ‘Who Are You’. Click here to read it.