The picture remains...
A picture is worth a thousand words... How many times have we heard this saying? I am sure most of us have lost count. Although it sounds cliche, it is true. A picture does tell a story that is hard to put into words. Sometimes not even a thousand words can tell us what a picture does.
Today, my inspiration came from a very good friend of mine. Until yesterday, I never knew he was a high school drop out. How could I have known this? He exudes confidence. He is one of the most intelligent people I know. He works as hard as ten people do in any given day.
Coming from a wealthy family, he dropped out of school in Grade 10 and to make money, he worked as a waiter. This was followed by a brief stint as a security guard. One day to be exact :) He then started working for a packaging comany, before the lure of crime and more money drew him away from this job. He drifted away from the friends he knew and the good people he had surrounded himself with. Instead, he befriended people who were into criminal activities and became one of them. They would prey on students and steal whatever they had on them; cellphones, laptops, money, anything they could find. This continued for a while and he was basking in the joy of easy money. Until it almost ended his life. A student they had robbed called his friends for assistance. This assistance was in the form of a car, full of guys, with firearms. After managing to run away from these armed men, he hid in a bush until dawn and while walking home, had a chance to think. About his actions. About the choices he made. About the life he used to have. About his parents and how they would react if word got out. About how he was raised. About the man he was. About whether this was the life he wanted to live.
It was not the life he wanted. It was not the life his parents had hoped he would have. It was not the life he was going to continue living. He went back to waiting tables and did it for a while, until he got a part time job at an events company. As soon as he passed his driver's test, he became the driver at this company. A company who was willing to give him a chance. But in all this time of being the driver, he was secretly learning the ins and outs of the company. He eventually became more than a driver when his potential was discovered. A lot more. Today, he is known as the Accounts Executive / Assistant Events Manager. Not bad for someone who dropped out of school. Not bad for someone who was a waiter. Oh, and did I mention that he is only 26? Not bad at all :)
In the last few months, he has added two more titles to his name. That of Prospective Businessman and Photographer. And all it took was hunger. The hunger to want to be better. Do better. Live better. We can all turn our lives around, with the right choices. There will be many mistakes along the way and that is okay. Just remember to learn from them. If a high school drop out turned waiter turned driver turned Accounts Executive and Assistant Events Manager turned Photographer could do it, why can't we? We just need to feed our hunger with the correct choices.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures tell us stories that we cannot easily put into words. They speak of people, places, objects and memories that cannot be forgotten. A picture is a lot like the memories we carry with us. The untold stories of the journey we have travelled in this thing called Life. They cannot always be explained to others. But the memory remains. The lesson remains. The story remains. The picture remains. In our hearts. In our minds. The picture will forever remain.
Picture by: Malik
Today, my inspiration came from a very good friend of mine. Until yesterday, I never knew he was a high school drop out. How could I have known this? He exudes confidence. He is one of the most intelligent people I know. He works as hard as ten people do in any given day.
Coming from a wealthy family, he dropped out of school in Grade 10 and to make money, he worked as a waiter. This was followed by a brief stint as a security guard. One day to be exact :) He then started working for a packaging comany, before the lure of crime and more money drew him away from this job. He drifted away from the friends he knew and the good people he had surrounded himself with. Instead, he befriended people who were into criminal activities and became one of them. They would prey on students and steal whatever they had on them; cellphones, laptops, money, anything they could find. This continued for a while and he was basking in the joy of easy money. Until it almost ended his life. A student they had robbed called his friends for assistance. This assistance was in the form of a car, full of guys, with firearms. After managing to run away from these armed men, he hid in a bush until dawn and while walking home, had a chance to think. About his actions. About the choices he made. About the life he used to have. About his parents and how they would react if word got out. About how he was raised. About the man he was. About whether this was the life he wanted to live.
It was not the life he wanted. It was not the life his parents had hoped he would have. It was not the life he was going to continue living. He went back to waiting tables and did it for a while, until he got a part time job at an events company. As soon as he passed his driver's test, he became the driver at this company. A company who was willing to give him a chance. But in all this time of being the driver, he was secretly learning the ins and outs of the company. He eventually became more than a driver when his potential was discovered. A lot more. Today, he is known as the Accounts Executive / Assistant Events Manager. Not bad for someone who dropped out of school. Not bad for someone who was a waiter. Oh, and did I mention that he is only 26? Not bad at all :)
In the last few months, he has added two more titles to his name. That of Prospective Businessman and Photographer. And all it took was hunger. The hunger to want to be better. Do better. Live better. We can all turn our lives around, with the right choices. There will be many mistakes along the way and that is okay. Just remember to learn from them. If a high school drop out turned waiter turned driver turned Accounts Executive and Assistant Events Manager turned Photographer could do it, why can't we? We just need to feed our hunger with the correct choices.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures tell us stories that we cannot easily put into words. They speak of people, places, objects and memories that cannot be forgotten. A picture is a lot like the memories we carry with us. The untold stories of the journey we have travelled in this thing called Life. They cannot always be explained to others. But the memory remains. The lesson remains. The story remains. The picture remains. In our hearts. In our minds. The picture will forever remain.
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