My Father’s Bicycle
Introduction
Simplicity usually gets the job done. The best things in life are actually simple. Consider eating, it is not much work. You may also want to consider resting and sleeping they do not need a lot of work. They are so simple such that all of us can do them without breaking any sweat. I believe life is supposed to be simple. This is why when they asked General Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander in charge of the American Army in Iraq during the gulf war on how he should be remembered, he gave a simple answer. He said, “A patriot, a husband and a father.”
Stop worrying and be happy
I remember growing up in the ghetto, where basically everyone was poor. However, what I love about the ghetto is that although we were poor, we did not even know it and even if we were to know, we were not going to give a damn. The most important thing is that we were alive and happy, after all life is about being happy and we do not need to be so technical about it. Bobby McFerrin sang it well in 1988, here are some lyrics from the song:
Here’s a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don’t worry, be happy
In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry, you make it double
Don’t worry, be happy
Don’t worry, be happy now
The Bicycle Saga
My father, Papa Chris, like all our neighbours did not have much stuff to write home about besides a few house hold items. However, he had a prized asset in the form of a bicycle. His bicycle was well looked after, it was always sparkling clean. Unlike the other few bicycles in the neighbourhood, which were black my father’s bicycle was light blue and it had some parking space in the kitchen and living room which also doubled as the boy’s bedroom. He really loved his bicycle and always cautioned me and my brothers never to touch it, let alone ride it. I trust you are aware that boys will always be boys one day I stole my father’s bicycle when my brothers were not there, so I tried to ride it without the knowledge and I fell badly and the bicycle was disfigured a great deal. I had to carry it home as quickly as my little legs could take me home. Thankfully when I got home there was no one at home. So, I parked it by its regular parking bay by the wall. I quickly disappeared to the playground. Later on, I returned home to a full house and a disappointed Papa Chris. Thankfully he had not noticed that the bicycle had been messed up. But one day he noticed it and he court-martialed all the boys in the family, meaning my elder brother and my two younger brothers. He had strong suspicions that it was me. After thoroughly interrogating us, I was exposed and beaten like a snake.
Persistence Produces Results
One would have thought the thorough beating would have stopped me from exercising my cycling skills on the stolen bicycle. I never stopped taking it, and I never stopped falling from that special bicycle. But the more I fell the more I persisted. Before anybody knew, I was the expert cyclist. Its not like I was not afraid of being caught and being beaten, but I was more desperate to cycle than I was afraid of the beating. Nobody has ever succeeded without failing in this life. Life is a see-saw full of ups and downs but persistence is what will eventually produce results. Basket Ball great Michael Jordan says the reason I succeed is because I have failed over and over again.
My bicycle illustration may not be a morally correct example but it reminds others the importance of persisting until something happens. Never be afraid of failure, fear will paralyze your ability to think. Without that ability to think you may never achieve much. Jacob persisted until he was given Rachel in marriage. Abraham persisted until Isaac arrived after twenty-five years of persistence. Now Pep Guardiola is now a European Champion after persisting with Manchester city for eight years.
Victory belongs to the persistent. Jesus Christ remains my greatest inspiration for true and godly persistence. Arise and shine your hour of glory has come. Even if you fall the bicycle rise and ride it again.
