My inspiration, my life boost. For every action, there must be a reason. This reason is the inspiration. I am who I am today because of these unforgettable incident, person and factor: my dad's demise, my eldest brother and most importantly my gender. They are my inspiration.
When I was a very young boy I was a popular kid because I often play a lot. I was called the "Young Ronaldo". I never took my education seriously at any point then. I was born into a family of five, four boys and one girl, my elder sister. This means we're all together seven individuals in our family. When my Dad was alive he cared for every one of us and provided us with everything we needed. In my culture, a married woman is a compulsory housewife meaning she is only concerned with house care activities, not work. Another culture practiced in my area is that young males of at least fifteen years are capable of working for any rich man till his settlement. The young ladies are meant to live with their parents till marriage to avoid cases of unwanted pregnancy.
So my dad's demise is an inspiration to me. After his demise, my mom who didn't have work to do was only left with gathering some harvested farm produce to keep the family. My brothers left the family to the city in search of greener pastures leaving my sister behind to observe the culture. After I discovered that my Dad's absence had affected my family financially and materially, I became very serious about my academic studies. I discovered I had no one to discipline anytime I lost track. So I motivated myself knowing the hope of school fees for the next school session wasn't assured. I knew I would become a dropout if I didn't perform excellently to obtain a scholarship as my mom had no money to fund my schooling anymore. That was how my dad's demise made the playful boy a sudden bookworm.
I was able to perform excellently in school and I gained a scholarship to study till the end of high school. My mom was very proud of me and that was what I have always wanted, to make the widow happy at all times. The day I found out she was disappointed with my actions, I stayed hungry for that whole day. I have always wanted her to be happy, her happiness was my inspiration too.
After I finished high school, I sat for a scholarship exam organized by the US called ACT(American College Test). I didn't attain the score needed for a full scholarship as I had no funds for partial scholarships which I was eligible for with the score I had. I was very down and wanted to give up but I didn't, I had another great inspiration which I never expected, my eldest brother. My eldest brother, the first child of the family was settled by his boss after many years of stewardship.
My eldest brother became a dependent young man in the city. Hearing of my wonderful academic performance in high school, he decided to bear the bills of my further academic study. After I lost hope of further academic progress at the tertiary institution, I got inspiration from my eldest brother. I won't forget his kindness. He is a family man now and he is still bearing the bills today. He is my best, my second father, my inspiration.
My last inspiration which I will be sharing with us may sound meaningless but it was one of the reasons I became who I am today, my gender. In my region, males are often seen as the wise and capable gender but not the superior. There is no inferior gender in my culture but more attention and special qualities are attached to the male gender. If I were a female, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to further my academic study till the tertiary institution. In my culture, the female gender is expected to end schooling at the secondary level because there are future housewives so they do not require advanced academic attainment. It was also believed that if a wife is more educationally advanced than the husband, it makes the wife feel superior and the husband inferior. So as I belong to the gender, I escaped a lot of meaningless cultural barriers the female gender suffered in my culture. I am happy today because civilization has done its good work and many things have changed. Now we even have female teachers in tertiary institutions.
My gender was a very great inspiration I had because I didn't feel pressure from my cultural practices then. My mom suffered most times then to get money to purchase some menstrual pads and underwear for my sister. I saw my gender as an inspiration as I didn't have to stress my parents with such things. I only needed to eat, study, sleep and wake up. Nothing like pads and I also managed my underwear like the real minimalist I am. If I were a female I would have been under the bondage of the culture that expected females to live with their parents till marriage, I wouldn't have known more about the outside world, so my gender was a very big inspiration.
These inspirations I had transformed me in a very marvelous way.
Thanks for reading.
I decided to respond to two different prompts in this post. The #indiaunited contest with the theme: "Your Inspiration"; and the Inleo monthly prompts by @leogrowth, which sets to explore more about "Gender."
Thanks for reading. Have a great day.
ALL THE IMAGES ARE MINE.
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