Scholarship / What made Michael Michael. Being highly devoted to education to positively influence the world. [4]

tober 24 2010: the day I learned the biggest lesson of my life. It was a bright Tuesday morning; I was still pissed about my test results from Monday. I had never got such low results, especially at Computer Science which is my favorite subject. My school is a 30 minute walk away from my home. I had to travel the distance on foot because I couldn't afford public transportation. I had always been complaining to my father why we don't have a car and he never got tired of explaining to the 10-year-old me that we can't afford public transportation, let alone a car; it's a very difficult idea to understand for a naive kid, who had absolutely no know-how of money.

I was walking to school like any other morning. Mumbling my complains to myself, I overheard a conversation from two people positioned a bit left from the sidewalk I was walking on. They were exchanging the usual Ethiopian greeting. In Ethiopia, the usual reply to "How are you?" is "Thanks to God." This might be considered unusual or even weird by westerns, but this is what Ethiopians have been accustomed to. My eager neck could not resist the temptation to turn and so I did. But when I twirled by head in the direction of the voices, it was something I could have never expected. The man who uttered "How are you?" was relatively an average Joe. The other one who said, "Thanks to God," was somewhat out of the ordinary; he had no eyes and no legs. His body looked extremely weak, even when compared to Ethiopian standards. The moment I heard this massively disabled man thank God, I asked myself, "Why can't I do the same? I obviously have more to be thankful for."

That was the biggest lesson of my life: be grateful for what you have because there are many who have much less. But this takes nothing away from the fact that I strive for more. Just because I am grateful doesn't mean I don't work towards more success .I am not easily satisfied but I remain thankful for what I have achieved.

Analyzing what I had just observed, I proceeded onto my amble to school. I had never enjoyed school. I always thought it was a burden casted upon us, the students, by teachers. Every school day I woke up on, I asked God what I did wrong to deserve such a punishment. Then I would get off my bed while wondering if I will be strong enough to make it through the day. I walked slowly to school in the hope of never arriving there. The moment I arrived at school, I paused at the front door and gazed at the whole compound thinking that what a long day was ahead of me.

The feeling I had when I wake up on a weekend was pretty much the opposite. Filled with excitement, I use to run around for no reason at all. Honestly, I didn't know of what value education is- what it is capable of. The biggest mystery for me was why people went to school, why they were so devoted towards education. That was a question I asked myself many times but couldn't find an answer for.

"Give me money", went a voice behind me. Somebody got his hands on me and shoved me towards his own body. I was scared because I presumed it was a robbery. Besides, the neighborhood I was in was infamous for robbery. I calmed down a little bit when I analyzed the person, who didn't look like a robber at all. His ragged clothes and his dirty, unwashed dreadlocks gave me the impression that he was mentally sick. With his piercing blue eyes, he stared at my body from top to bottom. The instant I gathered the strength, I pushed his body away from me and started fleeing. In spite of my predictions, he didn't run after me. All he did was cry. "I am sorry baby," he muttered. First I thought it was just a typical talk from a crazy person. But from the look on his face I recognized that it was his true feelings speaking rather than his bad part of brain. All of the sudden he got emotional and began whining how ended up broke. He weepingly described how he has failed to feed his wife and daughter because he was unqualified for a decent paying job. "All this happened because I didn't go to college", he yelled.

"What's my use? My use! I am useless, I can't sustain my family, nor can I contribute to the society; I would rather die than live this way". I could see the desperation in his tear filled eyes. This man's highly sentimental speech drew me to realize how important education really is. Since then I have been highly devoted to my education so that I can positively influence the world.