Commitment

By Olehile Fischer Thataone


I will never forget what my old headmaster told taught me. Normally when you
are only 15 years of age you do not remember most of the things that are
preached by your teachers. But, this particular story is one such lesson
that I will never forget. Every time I drift off course, I get reminded of
this story.

It was a normal Monday morning at an assembly, and he was addressing the
students on important things in life and about committing ourselves to what
is important to us. This is how the story went:

An old man lived in a certain part of London, and he would wake up every
morning and go to the subway. He would get the train right to Central
London, and then sit at the street corner and beg. He would do this every
single day of his life. He sat at the same street corner and begged for
almost 20 years.

His house was filthy, and a stench came out of the house and it smelled
horribly. The neighbors could not stand the smell anymore, so they summoned
the police officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door
and cleaned the house. There were small bags of money all over the house
that he had collected over the years.

The police counted the money, and they soon realized that the old man was a
millionaire. They waited outside his house in anticipation to share the good
news with him. When he arrived home that evening, he was met by one the
officers who told him that there was no need for him to beg any more as he
was a rich man now, a millionaire.

He said nothing at all; he went into his house and locked the door. The next
morning he woke up as usual, went to the subway, got into the train, and sat
at the street corner and continued to beg.

Obviously, this old man had no great plans, dreams or anything significant
for his life. We learn nothing from this story other than staying focused on
the things we enjoy doing, commitment.


We should remain true to our course; which may mean committing yourselves to
things that people around you would normally disapprove. Let nothing
distract us from being happy, let nothing else determine our fate, but
ourselves.

What makes us happy is what matters in the end, not what we acquire