Along the delta of River Krishna in India lived a family. This area is renowned for rice farming.This kid grew up knowing rice as food and food as rice. Everything they cooked had some element of rice in it.
One time, the season was not very good and the crops failed. There was the risk of starvation so the authorities had to find a solution.The solution was to get relief food. Now the relief food didn’t have rice in it which meant the staple food that this kid was used to, was no longer on the dinner table. He couldn’t understand how it could be meal time when no rice appeared on the table. The parents had a very difficult time trying to convince him that even the other types of food were okay. He became so malnutritioned to the point where he had to be admitted to hospital
I suspect that many of you reading this, are probably wondering where all this is leading to. Now here’s the thing: Many people today, especially our youth, are suffering the same syndrome as our Indian boy above. We have been brought up, schooled and educated in a certain way. The educational system does not help matters at all. Many go to school with the sole aim of passing exams, go to campus, get a degree and then get a nice job and a corner office.This utopian mind set has led many to languish in failure, others even resorting to abusing drugs to escape reality. We cannot understand how such highly educated people like ourselves can be withot a job a year, two years down the line. We complain to and blame everyone but ourselves.We insist on the “rice” “we are used to, nothing else will suffice. We are not ready to change our diet as far as life is concerned.We are not willing to do business because it is too risky, we cannot do a job where we won’t be required to be smartly dressed in well pressed suits. For us youth, farming is far too backward and sales is for those with lower education.
My simple advice to all of us is simple: we need to have a change in mind set. We need to have a paradigm shift if we are to become useful members of society. If we intend to progress and be successful in life, then we need to move from the conventional ways; we need to veer off the beaten tracks and chart different courses. Education is very important but in our fast changing world, it is not enough.We need to do more and study outside of our normal curriculum.The future belongs to the entrepreneur, that guy who is ready and willing to be different but in a good and positive way. My question is: How many of us are willing and ready to be part of this movement? To read more posts by Mwangi, Click HERE
