Become Wise in Your Years of Foolishness

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AFRICAN WISDOM IN PROVERBS
*Instruction in youth is like engraving in stone. ~Moroccan Proverb

*When you follow in the path of your father, you learn to walk like him.
~Ashanti Proverb

*Ears that do not listen to advice, accompany the head when it is chopped off. ~African Proverb
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Introduction and Definitions: Years of youth are years of foolishness. Years of youth are also years when what we do highly influences what we may become.
A foolish person, (according to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary) is ‘a person who acts unwisely…lacking good sense of judgement…silly..a silly person can be defined as a person lacking common sense or judgement; foolish, helpless, defenseless’.

A foolish person will not use his/her full judgement because of (among other reasons) playfulness, lack of respect for self and others, low self-esteem, carelessness, restlessness; he/she will do things she/he knows will produce results he/she does not want!

Scenario One: A very foolish boy
Big-nose, is craving for orange juice. He knows that orange juice can be made by crushing/squeezing oranges to get the juice. But he gets a bag of mangoes, gets the juice from the mangoes and gets a cup to have a sip from his produce. He gets very surprised that what he is drinking does not taste like orange juice he was craving for!

You cannot get what you want or desire by doing what will not produce the results you desire. It is very foolish not to use the tools and resources you have at your disposal which could make your results better. If you want things to get better, you do not continue doing the things which produce the results you do not want. For example, most learners will wish to pass; in fact, they will be very happy if the test or examination results come out good.  Bit the same learner(s) will not study or make the right effort to listen and do all the exercises and assignments given. They will then be suprised when they get poor marks!

A wise person on the other hand is someone who ‘shows experience and good judgement’. Our judgement is based on what we know. And what we know comes from our experiences or what we have learnt. Wisdom is the application of knowledge for the benefit of yourself and others.

Scenario Two: Crossing the River
When I was growing up, I had the privilege to be taught by a very wise old Zambian teacher (Mr. Banda). He once told us that there was once a handsome boy (let us call him Bighead), who lived with his immediate family on the plains of an African savanna. He had family, (from his mother’s side) who lived across the river. One day, he decided to visit them. At the bank of the river, he found an old man who had one leg. The old man has been living on the banks of this river for three decades making a living out of basketry. After greeting the old man, Bighead proceeded towards the river so that he may jump into it and swim across.  “Stop!” shouted the old man. ‘There are crocodiles in this river’. The old man continued.

Depending on the frame of mind: Foolish or Wise; I hope you could be thinking of the following questions;
1. What do you think Bighead did?
2. Did he cross the river?
3. Did he turn back?
4. Did he swim across?
5. How useful is this old man to Bighead?

What I can inform you is that the old man had a small speed boat and a helper who was a few meters away. There was also a bridge a few meters away. This old man had the experience. He was injured by a crocodile one of the unfortunate days when he was too foolish and thought he could out-swim the crocodile. He was lucky to have survived to tell his story. Wisdom allowed him to stop Bighead from jumping into the river and ending up as a nice meal for the crocodiles.

Morale: Seek and hear advice from those with experience.

Mind your Thoughts: What we think and believe in, what we spend our thoughts on, we become. We are our thoughts. If you think you are worthless and useless and good for nothing and believe this, then you are. If you think you are defeated even before the battle starts, then you are. The good thing is that if you think you are better than your current situation, then you are. Our thoughts attract what we think. We tend to have the universe help us achieve what our thoughts wish for. If in your eyes I will not help you, you come to me with the belief that I will not help you and you will do things or say things which will help you not get what you wish I helped you with. For example; you might say; ‘Sir, I know you will not help me, but please give me a dollar’. I may not help you because already you know that I will not help!

If you think you will fail, you will do things which will help you fail. So, mind what you are saying to yourself, because you are listening.

A Victor not a Victim: You are a not a victim but a victor. If things do not work out as planned, it is not the end of the challenge. All it means is that you could have selected Plan A, which could not be implemented correctly or was not the right one in the first place! Go for Plan B. If plan B does not work also, please do not forget that there are still twenty-four (24) letters of the alphabet remaining! I know that even when you feel there is no solution to the challenge(s) you are facing, there is always a solution around you. If you continue searching, it will be available. You will have to improve your thoughts, skills and actions to allow you to choose and correctly implement the right option.

You will have to improve your thoughts and actions to allow yourself to choose the best options.
Do you know that our “best” options might not be the “right” options?
Our judgment is highly influenced by what we know and the resources we have at our disposal.

Persistent Persistence brings results: Giving up easily can be a trap. It destroys our self-confidence. It makes us believe that we can be easily overcome by challenges, instead of us overcoming them.

Procrastination: Procrastination is a lazy man’s apology.

Laziness/Chillax: There is nothing wrong with “chilling” and “relaxing” as long as it is done in moderation. It becomes a hindrance to success if all you do is all play and no work. There is an English saying that goes like; “all play and no work makes Jack a dull boy:. This is seen through no assignments, or homework done, playing all the time even in class and after school.

Love for a Nap Too Long: Those who feel lazy also love sleep like they love their breath. This robs them of all the energy to do profitable work.

Discipline: Those who wish to become wise, need to be disciplined. All things positive are made possible by sticking to principles.

Talkativeness: You cannot listen when talking too much. There are those who are always talking in class as if they their life depends on talking.

Playfulness: Robs you of the energy and space to learn or retain information.

Your Horizon: The scope of your horizon is a sign of your interpretation of the world. This influences your level of interpretation of the world.

Aim to be the Namibian dream not the Namibian nightmare.  It is never too like to make a difference.

(Please note that this is work in progress.  An expanded version is coming soon).

The Importance of Choosing A Career Early

Knowing what you are going to become after completing your school can be a challenging, confusing and time consuming task. Some young people may go through their youth years just barely surviving in a pool of confusion or going through it without being aware of what is going on. It is better to start thinking of careers from as early as grade 5 (standard 5). If you are already at a secondary school, you must be having an approximate career before you reach grade 10 (form 3). We will discuss some of the important reasons of choosing a career early below.
1. Goal Setting: Choosing a career early allows you to set related goals early, which encourages you to be more focused in your schooling. This allows you to know the school subjects or requirements for your chosen career (for example, types of subjects to do at school, the points you must obtain to allow you to be qualified to train for your field). After working with young people for ten (10) years, I have come to notice that learners without goals (or reason(s) to study find it difficult to stay forcused in school work or perform lower than their ability would have allowed them to.
2. Motivation: Choosing careers early makes you/encourages you to have a purpose to work towards. You have a reason to continue doing school work because you know why you have to work smart!
3. Being Organized: When you know what you want to achieve, it becomes easier to prepare to achieve what you want.  For example, let us say that you have a study time-table, and you stick to it, you might find it easier to get the right study materials for study.
4. Benefits: Choosing a career earlier helps someone to keep interested and involed in school because of knowing what to work for. This may also help raise test scores.It helps one have a sense of purpose in life.It aslo helps someone to pick relevant qualities early and start building on or enhancing them. Choosing a career early may help reduce (high) school dropout rates because learners will be able to make more effort to perform better. 
5. It is A Process: Choosing careers is not a one off event. It takes some steps and time. You need to know or understand yourself. This involves identifying your values, interests, personality and hobbies. Then, you need to study the different careers; what they offer, challenges faced by professionals in that career and benefits professionals in your career get (for example; free housing, car allowances, housing subsidy,extended holidays and free medical aid).

Our teachers (especially Life Skills Teachers or Guidance and Counselling Teachers at your school) normally would like to help, so please make an effort to ask for assistance.

Finally, you need to attend career fairs, life skills (or Guidance and Counsellling) lessons, meet professionals in your field(s) of interest, then finally make up your mind on the final choices. I recommend that at first, you need to have at least five different careers you will like to choose from. Be warned that on the way, you will change careers of interest several times before you settle for the final. Some learners do not make up their minds until the end of their grade 12 (form 5)!

 

 

*The author is a Life Skills Teacher at Okahandja Secondary School, Namibia. He taught in Botswana before joining the Ministry of Education in Namibia.