From the greatest of men to the most evil, there is something that has linked every human being that has ever lived and will live: Every person begins as a baby. This simple fact is incredible to think because, in a way, we all have the same starting point. Yet, who we end up becoming can be dramatically different. How can it be that some people, who were once just carefree children, have risen to be the people with accomplishments that have changed the world, while there are others who are responsible for some of history’s greatest tragedies? I know there are some bratty kids out there- I would know, I was one of them-but could you ever imagine that even those kids would become a murderer? Of course not.
This is where the study of nurture versus nature plays in. Some would say that perhaps people are just born inherently good or bad. Some say we can’t put the cause of how people turn out on their environment because some people have begun their life in the most lowly of places yet have risen to go far beyond it. I wanted to talk about one person in particular who did this. Their story was one I read about recently and it inspired me greatly and is definitely the spark for this post. I wouldn’t call this a book review by any means but if you were possibly looking for an inspiring book to read this might introduce you to one, without hopefully spoiling too much.
Find me Unafraid is a book written about the incredible true story of Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner. They were raised in completely different worlds, one being born in a slum in Kenya and the other growing up in Colorado, USA. The book shares mostly about their meeting, the development of their relationship and the dream they together pursue and bring to reality. It does also share much of what it was like for Kennedy to grow up in Kibera, a large slum in Kenya.
The stories of that time in his life are far from light-hearted. Honestly there were many times reading the book where I couldn’t relate to it at all. It was just beyond imagining and, for that matter, empathizing with the tragedies occurring in the lives of these people living in this African slum every single day. Do you know what I mean? It was just hard to think that another human being on this earth could experience so much pain in their life, the pain of abandonment, hunger and abuse, starting at such a young age. However the times when I really allowed the weight of the circumstances faced by his people to hit me, it brought me close to tears.
In this one earth we share there truly are many different worlds. Not too long ago I spoke with a friend about these different worlds that we really knew nothing about. For some their world is hearing gunfire outside as they huddle afraid on their bed at night. For others it’s having an older brother or sister involved in drugs and gang violence and it's unsure whether they will be seeing them again. The one thing we did know is that to break the norms of that world is nearly impossible; what you grow up seeing around you is almost guaranteed to be your lifestyle. They make mention of this point many times in Find me Unafraid, that the cycle of poverty and violence is almost impossible to break. The sad reality is that many people are caught in this cycle and they have lost all hope that there is a way out.
Their story, however, is a hopeful one because Kennedy is able to break free of this cycle and decides to do something about it. He chooses to take responsibility over his life and actions rather than remaining a victim to his circumstances. It is so moving to read his journey. Although his predicament was often beyond my comprehension, I could at least relate with his feelings. Feelings of wanting to do something about the problems in the world around him. Feelings of hopelessness and doubt at times when he was faced with hardships and limitations. Despite the many obstacles, he and Jessica persevere, and to this day they are improving the lives of young girls and their communities in Kibera and in other parts of Africa too. What is so admirable is that they took those difficult feelings that often we don’t want to feel and made them into productive action. So how did they do this?
I was thinking about that question while I read this book and I recognized one important step that Kennedy did was actively follow an example. In his community and in his own family he did not have much choice in terms of good role models, however he was fortunate enough- especially fortunate because he learned how to read which was a very uncommon thing- to come across a few autobiographies of great men, one of them being Martin Luther King Jr.. In times of difficulty or confusion he would turn to these books and would try his best to follow in their footsteps. It gave him a reflection of the qualities that were actually in himself too, and that served as an important reminder that he could and would overcome life’s difficulties.
It made me consider who was my role model? Who was it that I was actively walking in the footsteps of? Sometimes I imagine us people in the world as sheep. We’re all walking along this path together. Maybe at one point in time we might have known where we were trying to go and why but now... we’re just following the pack. But throughout history and in this world right now there are people who have broken free of the pack and are carving new roads with true direction.
Maybe it's hard to picture yourself as a leader type. Don’t worry I feel you. You know those motivational speakers who would come into our middle schools and be all inspiring and tell us that we are the future leaders of the world and stuff? I always dismissed that thinking. At that time I thought being a leader meant being a president or prime minister of a country and I couldn’t imagine myself doing that, let alone wanting to. There is a problem here though, because I think we often see our own limitations right now and we find it hard to imagine we can be anything more than that. So why bother trying?
We need to return to the heart and thinking we had as children. Because a child believes they can do anything! They don’t have a concept of their own limitations. However, sadly before many of them can go on to live their dreams, the cycle strikes. Like the many people who came before them they don’t receive the love and belief that they hunger for as much as they hunger for food, and they lose hope in themselves and the world. Even if we feel that way there is a way we can move forward. Like Kennedy did, we can make it our choice to follow the footsteps of the people who believed they could be more and therefore did just that.
Now, when I look at the people in my school, when I think of my friends wherever they may be, I believe I am looking at the world’s leaders. It isn’t just a phony belief, it just makes sense.
I see future leaders around me because that is actually who we are going to be. In some way or another we will be in a position of responsibility. Whether it be over other people, over property and material, or simply over our own lives. Of course we can try to run from it in different forms. Because it can definitely seem like a very scary weight. Truly though, embracing our portion of responsibility is the most liberating thing that we can do.
For me responsibility is not synonymous with burden, it is synonymous with freedom and creation. This of course was a way of thinking that I was able to develop over time and with the help of having good role models to teach me. Consider what your viewpoint on responsibility is. Do you just see it is an inconvenience or obligation?
If there is a problem, something that isn’t working in your life, if you accept your responsibility over your life then you are now free to make the necessary change. You begin to realize that the power indeed rests in your hands. That’s what Kennedy did. He stopped focusing on the hand that life didn’t deal him. He started to focus on what he had been given, what he could do.
We have to be the ones to break the cycle. The cycle of greed. The cycle of violence. The cycle of sexual abuse. The cycle of hopelessness... Whatever it is, it has been a cycle that has spanned the whole course of history. But it shouldn’t any longer. These cycles are simply what children have learned from those who were further along the road than them. So why don’t we lay a different path for the next generation, our children, to follow?
This is where the study of nurture versus nature plays in. Some would say that perhaps people are just born inherently good or bad. Some say we can’t put the cause of how people turn out on their environment because some people have begun their life in the most lowly of places yet have risen to go far beyond it. I wanted to talk about one person in particular who did this. Their story was one I read about recently and it inspired me greatly and is definitely the spark for this post. I wouldn’t call this a book review by any means but if you were possibly looking for an inspiring book to read this might introduce you to one, without hopefully spoiling too much.
Find me Unafraid is a book written about the incredible true story of Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner. They were raised in completely different worlds, one being born in a slum in Kenya and the other growing up in Colorado, USA. The book shares mostly about their meeting, the development of their relationship and the dream they together pursue and bring to reality. It does also share much of what it was like for Kennedy to grow up in Kibera, a large slum in Kenya.
The stories of that time in his life are far from light-hearted. Honestly there were many times reading the book where I couldn’t relate to it at all. It was just beyond imagining and, for that matter, empathizing with the tragedies occurring in the lives of these people living in this African slum every single day. Do you know what I mean? It was just hard to think that another human being on this earth could experience so much pain in their life, the pain of abandonment, hunger and abuse, starting at such a young age. However the times when I really allowed the weight of the circumstances faced by his people to hit me, it brought me close to tears.
In this one earth we share there truly are many different worlds. Not too long ago I spoke with a friend about these different worlds that we really knew nothing about. For some their world is hearing gunfire outside as they huddle afraid on their bed at night. For others it’s having an older brother or sister involved in drugs and gang violence and it's unsure whether they will be seeing them again. The one thing we did know is that to break the norms of that world is nearly impossible; what you grow up seeing around you is almost guaranteed to be your lifestyle. They make mention of this point many times in Find me Unafraid, that the cycle of poverty and violence is almost impossible to break. The sad reality is that many people are caught in this cycle and they have lost all hope that there is a way out.
Their story, however, is a hopeful one because Kennedy is able to break free of this cycle and decides to do something about it. He chooses to take responsibility over his life and actions rather than remaining a victim to his circumstances. It is so moving to read his journey. Although his predicament was often beyond my comprehension, I could at least relate with his feelings. Feelings of wanting to do something about the problems in the world around him. Feelings of hopelessness and doubt at times when he was faced with hardships and limitations. Despite the many obstacles, he and Jessica persevere, and to this day they are improving the lives of young girls and their communities in Kibera and in other parts of Africa too. What is so admirable is that they took those difficult feelings that often we don’t want to feel and made them into productive action. So how did they do this?
I was thinking about that question while I read this book and I recognized one important step that Kennedy did was actively follow an example. In his community and in his own family he did not have much choice in terms of good role models, however he was fortunate enough- especially fortunate because he learned how to read which was a very uncommon thing- to come across a few autobiographies of great men, one of them being Martin Luther King Jr.. In times of difficulty or confusion he would turn to these books and would try his best to follow in their footsteps. It gave him a reflection of the qualities that were actually in himself too, and that served as an important reminder that he could and would overcome life’s difficulties.
It made me consider who was my role model? Who was it that I was actively walking in the footsteps of? Sometimes I imagine us people in the world as sheep. We’re all walking along this path together. Maybe at one point in time we might have known where we were trying to go and why but now... we’re just following the pack. But throughout history and in this world right now there are people who have broken free of the pack and are carving new roads with true direction.
Maybe it's hard to picture yourself as a leader type. Don’t worry I feel you. You know those motivational speakers who would come into our middle schools and be all inspiring and tell us that we are the future leaders of the world and stuff? I always dismissed that thinking. At that time I thought being a leader meant being a president or prime minister of a country and I couldn’t imagine myself doing that, let alone wanting to. There is a problem here though, because I think we often see our own limitations right now and we find it hard to imagine we can be anything more than that. So why bother trying?
We need to return to the heart and thinking we had as children. Because a child believes they can do anything! They don’t have a concept of their own limitations. However, sadly before many of them can go on to live their dreams, the cycle strikes. Like the many people who came before them they don’t receive the love and belief that they hunger for as much as they hunger for food, and they lose hope in themselves and the world. Even if we feel that way there is a way we can move forward. Like Kennedy did, we can make it our choice to follow the footsteps of the people who believed they could be more and therefore did just that.
Now, when I look at the people in my school, when I think of my friends wherever they may be, I believe I am looking at the world’s leaders. It isn’t just a phony belief, it just makes sense.
I see future leaders around me because that is actually who we are going to be. In some way or another we will be in a position of responsibility. Whether it be over other people, over property and material, or simply over our own lives. Of course we can try to run from it in different forms. Because it can definitely seem like a very scary weight. Truly though, embracing our portion of responsibility is the most liberating thing that we can do.
For me responsibility is not synonymous with burden, it is synonymous with freedom and creation. This of course was a way of thinking that I was able to develop over time and with the help of having good role models to teach me. Consider what your viewpoint on responsibility is. Do you just see it is an inconvenience or obligation?
If there is a problem, something that isn’t working in your life, if you accept your responsibility over your life then you are now free to make the necessary change. You begin to realize that the power indeed rests in your hands. That’s what Kennedy did. He stopped focusing on the hand that life didn’t deal him. He started to focus on what he had been given, what he could do.
We have to be the ones to break the cycle. The cycle of greed. The cycle of violence. The cycle of sexual abuse. The cycle of hopelessness... Whatever it is, it has been a cycle that has spanned the whole course of history. But it shouldn’t any longer. These cycles are simply what children have learned from those who were further along the road than them. So why don’t we lay a different path for the next generation, our children, to follow?
“Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”
Invictus
by William Ernest Henley
Wow, thanks for sharing that Robert!
ReplyDeleteIt's really inspiring to hear this message of following your dream or carving your path in life. It's funny how we are so accustomed to going on the path that has already been made. We are often blind to the fact that if we just take 1 step to the right or 1 step to the left, we begin carving a new path, and it's that easy. Just begins with our choice.
Thanks Robert!