Toochukwu Leonard's Blog

Crossroads… Hmmm; sounds familiar? We’ve all been there before, haven’t we? It’s a ‘place’; a situation in which you’re at a loss on which step to take. Just like when you come to a road which bifurcates and you don’t know which path is the right one; a situation in your life may arise in which you don’t know exactly which step to take. You’re confused and at a loss.  You’re at a critical point when an important decision must be made. That’s what being at the crossroads mean. Yeah, we’ve all seen this kind of situation times without number. Can I ask you something, though? What exactly did you do when you were at your own crossroads? Did you just blindly choose one option and got going? Did you ‘follow your heart’? (What does that even mean?). What do you think is appropriate to do when at the crossroads?

I define mediocrity as accepting and working with things the way they are without reasoning, asking questions or attempting improvement. Mediocrity is being comfortable with the average or even below the average. Mediocrity is, not even feeling bothered with the status quo; not even thinking of planning for improvement in any aspect of life. That is my view of mediocrity. You see, it bleeds my heart to see how OK and comfortable majority of people are about issues around them; issues that concern their very lives. It’s indeed seriously baffling. Mediocrity is very rampant. There’s a likelihood that you’ll find it around you, even in your very life.

A friend of mine wrote a post on facebook. The content of the post wasn't something strange. It's something most youths think seriously about frequently. It was an after-school-then-what kind of post.  There were several comments. However, one striking thing about the comments, though, not strange too, is that at least 90% of all those who commented said similar things. They were of the normal popular opinion; which is, after school, get a good job, make some money (for the guys most importantly) get married, raise kids... And in so doing, your life seems to step aside for those of your kids as you work harder and harder to cater for your ever growing family. Is this what you really want?

I’ll tell you how a significant number of people succeed in working so hard and reaping very little, by giving you this simple illustration. Imagine a small room, and a tap of running water located somewhere in the room, perhaps in a sink. You were instructed to mop the room dry. With the tap still running, will that be possible?

A sincere ‘thank you’ is one of the loveliest things to be heard. It warms the heart, puts smile to the face and adds joy to the heart. It makes one feel like a fulfilled hero even though he may have accomplished the smallest of tasks with the slightest of efforts. We starve others of this little but lovely expression due to several reasons, most evidently; self-centeredness, pride, or a mere nonchalant and uncaring attitude. Hard as it may sound, if we can be honest, this is often the case.