The Courage to Try Again

Friday morning, I saw something. One of those things that swells pride in the breast. It might have been a small thing to some people, but to me it was a shiny beacon of courage. Most people think that courage is the thing that a person must have to do the big things, but most often courage is not this at all. Courage is the ability to do the little things that have never been done before. It is the decision try again. It is the chance to start over, or go against the grain. It is the second home run in a World Series for Lou Gehrig , or a Rosa Park, deciding to sit on the front of the bus, or even American settlers throwing boxes of tea off a boat. The fact is, weather they happened for personal, social, spiritual, or moral reasons, they each dared in a way to do something for the first time!

On Friday I saw one of these times of courage. It was not earth shattering. Fact is that most people in the world or in Ghana for that matter, will never hear about it. But it was a act of courage. It was about someone trying to do something that they had failed at before. This is Edison courage that does not quite though it fails 700 times.

On Friday as I was walking to the bus stop I saw a student walking up to the same stop to catch a tro-tro. At first I paid no attention to the student. I thought it was just another student going home after school. But, after a second thought, I took another look. After a second quick glance, I thought that the student was older. But I decided it must be a student that was held back in the Junior High (it is very common here for people to be delayed in school for three or four years because some times it is difficult to gather together the money to pay school fees). But as I stood at the junction, my mind kept telling me that something was different about this student. So, I decided to try to sneak another peak, without being seen. I was shocked by what I saw.

She was not just a normal student! She was a few years older. It was the normal schoolgirl at all, but grown up women. She was about 40 years old, and she was wearing a school uniform. This might not mean much to the America reading this, but to a Ghanaian this is huge. Everything in our culture is built upon status, age, and order, much like a simple form of a cast system. For this reason, once someone pass through a stage they will not want to go back. It would be like jumping back down the ladder. (This is one reason most young men work so hard at growing facial hair, it raises them up a few steps).

But, here was a mature lady in a school uniform. I mean the full thing. Here they wear a set outfit for school. Most public schools it is the same. Boys wear brown shorts, and a orange shirt, with white socks and black shoes. Girls wear a brown and orange dress, and white and black shoes. The lady standing at the junction was wearing the white lacy socks, black tennis shoes, the orange and brown dress. She lloked a student all the down to her black kids back pack. She had even cut and breaded her hair so that she could go to school.

After a few second of peaking at this lady out of the corner of my eye, my curiosity got the best of me and I ask her if she was a student. This is what see said. She had never finished Junior High school, and wanted to learn how to read and write. So she decided to go back to school!

This was so amazing! Now I know coming from a nation where older people get there GED all the time, this might not be amazing, but think of it this way. Imagine if each person that wanted to get a GED in the United States had to go back to public school again. They had to dress up like all the pre-teens. Carry a back-pack and sit in class with the kids! That is just what this women decided to do!

I was very impressed, I tried by best to encourage her. I told her that I thought what she was doing was great! I told her that I hoped she continued. But, then again it probably did not matter to much, if she was that determined she was going to finish no matter what.

As I rode away in a taxi, I sat there wondering. I was amazed at the courage of a 40 something women. Someone that was bold enough to do something that is rarely if ever done. Even when I mention it to the taxi driver, he told me that he had heard about it. He said it was so amazing that a local radio station reported on it.

So to this women, come to think of it, I did not even have time to ask her name, here is a poem that her actions seem to fulfill.

The Things That Haven't Been Done Before

The things that haven't been done before,

Those are the things to try;

Columbus dreamed of an unknown shore

At the rim of the far-flung sky,

And his heart was bold and his faith was strong

As he ventured in dangers new,

And he paid no heed to the jeering throng

Or the fears of the doubting crew.

The many will follow the beaten track

With guideposts on the way.

They live and have lived for ages back

With a chart for every day.

Someone has told them it's safe to go

On the road he has traveled o'er,

And all that they ever strive to know

Are the things that were known before.

A few strike out, without map or chart,

Where never a man has been,

From the beaten paths they draw apart

To see what no man has seen.

There are deeds they hunger alone to do;

Though battered and bruised and sore,

They blaze the path for the many, who

Do nothing not done before.

The things that haven't been done before

Are the tasks worthwhile today;

Are you one of the flock that follows, or

Are you one that shall lead the way?

Are you one of the timid souls that quail

At the jeers of a doubting crew,

Or dare you, whether you win or fail,

Strike out for a goal that's new?