“Be the change you wish to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi

“Without confidence, you are twice defeated in the race of life” – Marcus Garvey


Self doubt - the wretched parasite that sucks the very life from black people. The beast that terrifies black youth and retires them to lives of servitude and discontentment – forever dreaming of what “would be nice”.

Many a times I’ve tried to understand what is it that makes it so hard for us to just follow our dreams, just let go of the rules that supposedly govern creation (after all, they were created by men – with limited human intelligence), and make that first step - fall flat on our faces, and just get up and do it again.

Typically people find it amazing to watch a child make his or her first step. You watch with an emotional blend of joy, hope and doubt, and stand on edge looking to catch them if they fall. But I believe there’s a greater joy to be received, a higher learning to be sought and a noble truth to subscribe to - the truth that we can only go as far as we have set our boundaries.

“Unless a man undertakes more than he can possibly do, he will never be able to do all he can” – Emperor Haile Sellassie I

The ingredients for success are: ideas, plans, determination, perseverance and commitment; and faith. It’s like baking banana bread, and should you put self-doubting plantains in the mix, then you won’t get banana bread; you’ll instead be getting an undesired mix – distasteful plantains (I’m not a plantain lover – put me before the firing squad). Now, depending on your situation, how hungry you are, or how intent you are on not wasting a grain of flour, you will eat this undesired bake, and perhaps it may serve the present purpose well (you might even convince yourself that you like it). But at the end of the day, you would’ve still failed to make the banana bread you so deeply desire, and would still not be able to tell your friends about the mind blowing taste of warm banana bread. And it would still be haunting you, turning your dreams into nightmares.

There is nothing we cannot achieve if we put our minds to it, and chase it as if our last breath was dependent on its happening. Our inability to step into the dark room and then feel for the switch is what keeps us from attaining the highest levels of achievement. If we happen to have a long day at the office, and we don’t get home until 10pm, we open our doors, assured that we will find the light switch; we are not afraid of the dark. But what if we flick that switch and there’s no electricity?

Well, it’s the same with life – open the doors that are closed, and KNOW, that somewhere in that room of unknowns, there’s a light switch that will illuminate your ideas and make visible and tangible, a brand new experience. Be conscious of the fact that you may find this switch and flick it, and the bulb fails to illuminate. But then what do you do? Do you drown yourself in rivers of regretful thoughts? Do you spin around and feel, arms out, panicking, trying to find the door to get out and make a run for it? Or do you check the bulb, the wires and the switch?

If you want this room of existence lighted, then it’s your duty and obligation to yourself to get it so. Don’t be discouraged by obstacles or unsupportive friends and family. Don’t be worried about not being an electrician, or about never having screwed in a bulb much less repair live electrical cables. But if it can be done, there’s no one more suited for doing it than you.

So if you intend to leave that room, make sure it’s to go get information and supplies that will prepare you for lighting the room on your return. Never give up on your dreams.

One Perfect Love.

Sekou-Ajene Tafari

© 2007