Analysis: DEXTER NJUKA
WATCHING a documentary of Bob Marley perform in Zimbabwe prior that country’s independence gave me food for thought and made me stand on my feet to posthumously give him an ovation.
I think the crowd became unruly out of excitement and thrill to watch this mortal man immortalise the lyrics with great gait and zeal.
The police had to throw tear gas canisters to bring down the pandemonium that had broken loose. Everyone of his band members had left the stage. The guitarists had stopped strumming their guitars. His vocalists had since taken cover letting him sing by himself. His dancing queens in tears hid themselves under the drums, piano or whatever they could find on the stage.
Bob was alone. Still strumming and fretting the strings of his light blue acoustic guitar, Bob a true revolutionist was lost in the song, oblivious to the panicky and confusions around. Bob sung to the very end of the tune even as the confusion subsided. He would rather die than be told to stop singing.
This is a true example of a person who used his talent to the amazement of many world leaders including Fidel Castro, Robert Mugabe and our own KK. His talent could cause leaders of opposite political views stand on the same stage and embrace each other.
God has blessed each one of us at least with a talent. All we need is to realise our talent, develop it to the extent of living and breathing it day and night. I am aware that even great prolific speakers such as Billy Graham, Decatur Brooks, Thomas Dexter Jacks and Charles Spurgeon had to develop their talents to speak to crowds worldwide.
It calls for tact and tenacity to go professional with one’s talent. The talents that God has given each one of us are adequate enough to sustain us. Look at that college boy who started writing speeches. Little did Jon Favreau know that one day at the age of twenty-seven he would end up writing the inauguration speech for President Obama?
When his parents pushed him to go to school, Mark Zuckerberg was ever busy tinkering on an old computer and running late until his father leveraged his talent by buying him a computer and this young man became the founder of the famous Facebook.
Who didn’t hear of the fight of 21st Century between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Just twelve rounds of three minutes each; it became the most lucrative fight and highest grossing PPV in history. For less than an hour, these boxers split between themselves about US$300 million purse money.
Jesus in the gospels gave a parable of a master who was going away to a far a country and had called his three workers to entrust them with talents each according to their ability. One was given five, the other two and the last one. After a while he came back and asked to see how they all had utilised the talents he had given each of them.
The first two had maximised their talents and made a fortune out of them. But the third one feared to venture and instead buried his talent under the ground. The master was upset with him and threw him into the dungeon for squandering the talent.
Children need encouragement from their parents in order to discover or enhance their talents. Haven’t you heard many a times Christian Ronaldo make mention of his mother at all the three FIFA Ballon d’Or award giving ceremonies?
When he was a boy, and each time his mother sent him to the bakery as he waited in the queue for his bread, he always joggled his ball.
If his mother disparaged him, maybe we wouldn’t have seeing this great footballer today as he is.
I feel bad the times I have thrown outside my son’s sticks that he kept pilling around the house. To me there were a nuisance and if only I could understand or help him in whatever this meant.
Oh, did I mention that it’s through tinkering with wrist watches that a Mundia Munalula was turned into a computer wizard I have known. My father doesn’t probably realise that it was his encouraging me by posting my first letter which I wrote to his brother in the village when I was in grade five. Since then I have not stopped writing.
I see my daughter scrap book of fashion designs. They are obscure but I know that with lots of positive words and encouragement, she is a great designer in making. All these, our children need is our thumbs up.
The author is a Chaplain for Mupapa Secondary School for the Seventh-Day Adventists in Copperbelt.