You Deserve More. Really?
I have often heard and read the Mis-Educated Than His Ancestors (the Metha) brag about what it is they deserve – this here, and that over there! And it seems that what they wish to say is that our country is not enough to grant them what it is they deserve for their various levels of education.
No you don’t deserve anything! Unfortunately, this Modern Neoliberal Americanism about “I deserve it,” is seeping into many other cultures, not just into Traditional African Culture. You don’t deserve anything! No one owes you anything! Not even God owes you anything.
Even within the same Euro-American framework, where this mythology has emerged from, previous generations out there, in the wild, did not envision life in this way either. (Hint: “Deserve has nothing to do with it.” Movie: Unforgiven, 1992)
Of course. You may make a moral case against someone who has wronged you in one way or another and perhaps demand reparation. However, besides a legal ramification – or, dare I say, a spiritual ramification – no one owes you anything. Deserve has nothing to do with it. You have what you’ve made and accomplished.
On the contrary, it is not enough to tell people how the universe actually works. So I often provide the humble reader an option to the dire reality of what it is that we want. What is often the case is that you can get what you want, and that “something” may be exactly what you deserve!
First, you need to know what you want. You can’t get what you want until you know what that is, and until you know that it is achievable. If you don’t know to which port you sail, no wind is favorable.
Second, you must be patient like the Leopard. You must not foreclose, or check out, or settle, or grab the sub-optimum alternative the moment that it presents itself. A leopard stalking an antelope does not settle for a rabbit no matter how hungry it is. Why? If the Leopard grabs the rabbit and the antelope presents within short order, the Leopard would have not appetite for what it actually wanted.
Third, when something comes by, and it satisfies ALMOST ALL of what you want, you grab it. And you don’t let go. A leopard stalking an antelope does not continue to look for the antelope when it spots a goat well within its reach. That’s how you get what you want! And it is what you deserve.
For the Metha, it is time you begin to identify what it is you want, and be clear about how feasible you would go about getting it. And then you need patience not arrogance. And when you get close, you must pounce and forget the rest.
