Life if full of experiences and those who care to listen would have a lot to learn from others. Sometimes, the experiences are juicy, at other times, they are draining and tragic. In all, being able to draw the best of lessons form either is golden.
Seeing the picture of this young energetic sportsman but with tearful scars made me pause to reason with his story and experiences where the grand of my lesson "Passion beyond Scars" is curled. The young man in the picture is Qaphela Titus Gobodo, a South African from Wellington in Western Cape. He'll be 20 this year, hearty and strong, fit for his favourite sports -Rugby, the sports in which he's already a champ.
At 16, he was burnt by his own classmates after being the first child of colour in his school to get a rugby scholarship. Could this be as a result of envy, jealousy, hatred, racism ....? I can't just imagine what would have spur such an awful tragic incidence orchestrated by fellow young dudes like him under 20.
Reading his narration of the incidence courtesy of McDonald Promotions made my heart resolve to succeed amidst all odds and as inspire as many that have the time to read this blog that there's passion for success that can beat any depth of scar we were ever scourged with while trying to succeed.
"The day my life changed forever was a Tuesday in 2016. I was at school and I asked my teacher for a bathroom break and she agreed. As I was headed to the bathroom I saw these boys on the corridor but I didn’t mind them. When I left the bathroom someone hit me with a golf stick at the back of my head and I fell, unconscious. I couldn’t hear anyone; I couldn’t see anything and I couldn’t scream for help because I was unconscious. As I regained my consciousness I could feel myself burning but I was so lost because I thought maybe I had been shot or maybe I was dreaming but I couldn’t really understand what was happening."
'When I realized that I was on fire, I tried standing up but I fell again and rolled down the stairs while on fire. I was close to the girl’s bathroom and so I tried pouring water on myself but that just made the fire worse and also I had dye on me so I was burning even more. Everyone started screaming and crying so I ran out the toilet. The wind was also blowing which made the fire even bigger. My main focus now was getting to the headmaster’s office. It was about 3 minutes away so as I was running there, I kept falling and standing up again just to get to the office. When I finally got there, I asked them to open the water and then I knelt in front of the tap and the water quenched the fire. My clothes were stuck on me so I decided to take them off and I was naked. Everyone could see my private parts." source
Although Qaphela wasn't receiving the best medical attention due to financial constraints, he survived the tragedy and went back to school. Despite the scorn by his classmates as he returned, he never minded. All that was in Gobodo's mind mas to go back to the pitch to play rugby. As of 2019, he had started training for rugby with photo shoots he had on the rugby field as used as banner image for this post. In addition, Gobodo is now a motivational speaker with thousands of audiences getting inspired by his life story.
There is something that pushes men to achieve their dreams, it is called passion. If you've got it to do anything, keep it and never look to any other to boost it. All you need to get your passion alive is you. Yes you! I remember a time I followed a friend for a 20km jog around time after a long time of no exercise and had already a protruding tummy and all of that unwanted body shapes. I literally couldn't move out for about three days after the adventure because my muscles felt like they'll burst off my skin surface. I followed the next weekend and all the cramps disappeared.
Here are the lessons summarized:
- Never be ashamed of the scars you had while growing or striving for success.
- Not everyone would celebrate your succeed, as such, never let be defined by people.
- Feed your passion each day with positive words - "I Can" even if no one else sees that with you.
- Never be afraid to fail, they are only indicators that there's an aspect you just have to improve!