A few days back, a friend of mine raised the issue of cheating on one of our mutual chat groups. In the course of the discussion, I took a journey down memory lane on one the articles that helped shape me. It reads and I quote:

My son starts school today. It is all going to be strange and new to him for a while and I wish you would treat him gently. It is an adventure that might take him across continents. All adventures that probably include wars, tragedy and sorrow. To live this life will require faith, love and courage.

So dear Teacher, will you please take him by his hand and teach him things he will have to know, teaching him – but gently, if you can, Teach him that for every enemy, there is a friend. He will have to know that all men are not just, that all men are not true. But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero, for every crooked politician, there is a dedicated leader.

Teach him if you can that 10 cents earned is of far more value than a dollar found. In school, teacher, it is far more honourable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to learn how to gracefully lose, and enjoy winning when he does win.

Teach him to be gentle with people, tough with tough people. Steer him away from envy if you can and teach him the secret of quiet laughter. Teach him if you can –how to laugh when he is sad, teach him there is no shame in tears. Teach him there can be glory in failure and despair in success. Teach him to scoff at cynics.

Teach him if you can the wonders of books, but also give time to ponder the extreme mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hill. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is doing it. Teach him to listen to everyone, but teach him also to filter all that he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him to sell his talents and brains to the highest bidder but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul. Let him have the courage to be impatient, let him have the patient to be brave. Teach him to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind, in God.

This is the order, teacher but see what best you can do. He is such a nice little boy and he is my son.

(A copy of Abraham Lincoln’s letter to his son’s teacher).

I want you to brood on this and write me if you can on your thoughts on this series so far or any of our previous series through any of these media:
WhatsApp: 08063566730
Facebook: Ibeh Uche Sam
E-mail: beyo4real@yahoo.com

#THE PROCESS

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Stay blessed.       
  

©TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES
(Transforming the World through the Word)
http://www.transformingwordseries.wordpress.com

In the last episode, I tried to throw a little light on the impact of easy way outs, short cuts and bypasses on results and outputs. Building on that, I want to bring a concept that envelopes these subjects to the fore. I want to deal with CHEATING! You are free to get indignant, but I will go there.

There are a number of ways to define and describe cheating. In my opinion, cheating is a breach of process. When results are gotten in ways that are contrary to the right process, that’s cheating. It does not matter how you try to look at it, CHEATING is CHEATING! Do not get yourself all beat up now, I have been a culprit sometime in the past. I have experienced the devastating effect of cheating on my person and mind set. Hence, I developed zero tolerance for cheating.

In my personal research into the reasons people cheat, I have come to realize that the most profound reason is fear of failure.

The fear of failure is the beginning of cheating.

People cheat because they want to be seen as being successful, even if they have to cut corners.

One of the things I discovered about cheating is that it reduces your self-worth. The more you cheat, the less your worth. For every result you get through cheating, you will lack the boldness to talk about it. It dampens your confidence in your ability to do things the right way. Cheating makes you a prey to destiny predators.

I want to challenge you today to make a firm resolve to disown cheating, even if you have to fail. It is more honourable to be a chronic failure than to be a successful cheat.

#THE PROCESS

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©TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES
(Transforming the World through the Word)
http://www.transformingwordseries.wordpress.com

Often times I hear people talk about the easy way out, short cuts and bypasses. As a matter of fact, the majority of the populace desire a life where all things are made ready and easy. I hear people say that they are suffering to make so much money now so that their coming generations do not suffer. Interestingly, statistics show that 70% of these wealth transfer plans fail. You get to see families who the bread winner left with so much wealth turn to beggars few years after the bread winner is gone. If you are in the category of people who depend on the wealth amassed by their fathers, I only feel sorry for your future.

Everywhere I turn, I see young men and women wasting their parents’ hard earned money on frivolities simply because they can always get it just for the asking. They live reckless lives and indulge in lasciviousness with someone else’s money. They are not ready to work and do something worthwhile with their lives. Sincerely, I feel pity for their future.

If the result must be a great and lasting one, then there are no easy way outs or short cuts. There is a popular saying that short cuts will always cut short your life. If you bypass the process, you can never get greatness as a result. As a matter of fact, bypasses are potentially hazardous. It kick-starts a chain of reactions that terminates at destruction. Great achievers go through the process of great achievement. If you need a great result, go through the process.

The road might be rough, GO THROUGH IT! The road might be long, GO THROUGH IT! If you’ll have to stumble at times, it’s okay rise up and go THROUGH! There might be disappointments along the way, do not be deterred, GO THROUGH IT!

If you do not go through the process, you’ll not be able to fix any problem associated with the result. This is what I mean: There is no guarantee that the result will always come out good, but the process makes it easier for you to know why and where something went wrong, and that makes fixing feasible.

Friends, whatever it takes, GO THROUGH IT!

“Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the road is spacious that leads to destruction, and many people are entering by it. How narrow is the gate and how constricted is the road that leads to life and there aren’t many people who find it!”
Matt. 7:13-14 (ISV).

#THE PROCESS

Please share with others and let it bless them as it blessed you

Stay blessed and have a splendid February!
  

©TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES
(Transforming the World through the Word)
http://www.transformingwordseries.wordpress.com