Saturday, July 21, 2012

NO YOU CAN'T!

No, you can’t! I am sure you have heard that a lot. We all have at one time or the other in our lives. Even if it was not addressed to you but to another. People use it a lot to dissuade others when they do not understand your idea, your dream. They tell you it is not possible. When you start to believe them then you lose the passion for that dream and once that is gone, it is gone.
The question is do we always have to follow the norm? Do I have to walk like you or dress the way you think I should dress?
Besides, those norms who do you think created them. A being like you created it, it was their idea, and it became accepted so it stuck. People naturally do not like what seems strange to them, their own prejudices and fear colour their answer. My favourite English author after Williams Shakespeare is Charles dickens, I love his books; Great expectations, a tale of two cities, a Christmas carol, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield and the most popular, Oliver twist. Do you know Charles Dickens would never have written these books if he had listened to the clause, ‘no, you cannot’? Permit me if my English is not accurate. Charles dropped out of school at age 12. His father was in prison and Charles had to go work in a local factory. Then, he became an errand boy in a law office. He taught himself shorthand. He was not satisfied at the law office, he moved to court as a stenographer. He told his father he wanted to become a journalist. They told him he could not do it, that he should not dream too big and go above his means. Well, he did and became the best reporter in England.  He did little sketches that were put in the papers as periodicals then on to short stories. Before anyone could say Charles, he became an author and the most popular author in England and the world. His books sold as fast as hot biscuits. He has been dead for a long while now but his books are still enjoyed by people like me. What if he had listened? No one would remember him.
  Every successful person in history has been told those same words. Do you think we would have electricity if the inventor had listened, or telephones? There would be no airplanes, no cars. If these men had listened to the negativity of the people around them. Some of them were ridiculed and became pariahs because of their dreams, their visions.  Let us thank God, Thomas Edison never let his failures hold him back. The father of inventors contributed immensely to our comfort today. Well if he had listened (he was partially deaf though), no one would remember him and his numerous patents.  He never gave up. They all never gave up. Apple, Windows, Facebook, Microsoft and other big names exist because the founders never listened to people and give up on their dreams. Even, the celebrities you love so much, like Tom Hanks, Al Pacino, Danny Devito, Arnold Schwarzenegger would not have been people we love and admire if they had listened and let the rejections and failures they got along the way deter them. They pushed ahead and it paid out in the end.
Passion and dreams are nothing without perseverance. If you let what people, would think about your dream stop you then it is your loss. I read about a man who had built a plane before the Wright brothers and left it in his shed. He was devastated when he heard about a flying machine. He was scared of what people would think and of failing. Well that is his luck, I guess that is why I cannot remember his name because in history it was the Wright brothers that invented the airplane. That would have been his if only he had said to himself. ‘Yes I can.’
If President Obama had listened to what everyone had told him. I am sure they told him (permit my language I watch Boondocks a lot. *smiles*)
‘Nigger, you crazy. Wake up nigger you black.’
‘A black nigger dreaming of being the president....’
‘The white man don’t like no niggers, how they gonna let you be president?’
They must have laughed at his dream but he never listened and today, he is the first black American president.
 I could go on and on. Yes, sometimes it gets hard and you feel like you can’t hold on anymore. We all feel that way sometimes. It is natural but just forge ahead. You are different from the next man so why should they tell you what you cannot and can do. God understands diversity; look at the colour of our skins, the types of animals and flowers around you. They do not look the same. They are all different and unique in their own way not uniform .so; never let someone tell you,
‘No, you can’t!’
I leave you with the words of the father of inventors himself.
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”
-    Thomas Edison

P.S: Sorry, I have not posted in a while. Please do follow us by e-mail or through Google. Please share the link on Facebook, Twitter and Google by clicking on their icons beneath the post If you enjoyed it and as always, your comments are welcome and appreciated. Cheers!

2 comments:

  1. I always used to hv problem wit d network whneva I wntd to open ur link bt today I didn't n am beyound glad.I went thru d 'no u cnt' xperience whn I 1st wntd 2start my buiz.luckili,am thick headed n neva listened.any1 readn dis,believe me whn I say 'yes u can'

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    Replies
    1. Hello Ruth, i'm happy you were able to access it today and thank you for sharing your experience. You are an example that perseverance pays. Thank you for also being an inspiration to others. Cheers!

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