Trevor was always ambitious right from a young age. Anytime he was alone, he would fantasize about the kind of future he wished to have and truth be told, some of these ideas were on the lofty side however, for a young man with dreams and aspirations, this was ok.
Trevor had an affinity for the wild. Nature always intrigued him and he learnt as much as he could about nature, be it the plants, animals, the rocks, mountains, valleys, you name it, he was always looking for information about them and much more. This helped him decide on a career choice at a very young age. In college, Trevor pursued a course in tourism majoring in tour guiding. This would give him unlimited access to the very thing he loved. Trevor dedicated himself fully to his job and this endeared him to many visitors. This gave him an opportunity to visit all the major parks in Kenya and the greater East African region.
Most of the game parks have a gate and once you pay the entrance fee, you just drive through although there are some private conservancies whose access is limited and there is always a barrier. Most of these conservancies house endangered species which require 24hrs surveillance and protection. His first visit to such a conservancy, gave him a mixture of surprise and shock in equal measure. Before you get to the main gate, there is a barrier which is always down. To go through you must raise it so that the vehicle can drive through. Trevor was not used to such rules so to him, that barrier was like a no entry sign. So he just parked his tour van a few meters from the barrier. Unbeknown to him, there were other vans behind him so he was causing a huge tailback. It took a radio call from one of the drivers to the management of the park for the matter to be resolved. An attendant was sent from the main office to come and check what the problem was. He came and found Trevor’s van parked at the entrance. On enquiring, Trevor explained what the matter was. The attendant couldn’t help bursting out in laughter. He then eased the lock of the barrier and raised it up. Then he waved the vehicles through.
I don’t know what to call Trevor; whether ignorant or uninformed. But one thing is clear to us that there was no way he could access the park when the barrier was down. This may sound like a fairy tale but it represents the situations which so many us face. We all want to be successful but we want to achieve that without putting any work into it. You cannot pass an exam if you don’t study hard. You cannot be successful in business if you don’t follow the right guidelines. Your relationship will go south if you don’t work on it. In every sphere of life, there is a contribution expected from each one of us and as long as that is unmet, we may as we’ll forget or write off, the chance of success. These and many more are barriers and they are always down but once we do what is expected of us, the barrier will be raised up and we can drive through. I sign out with this question; What barriers are down in your life which are stopping your progress and what are you doing about them? To read more posts by Mwangi, click HERE
