LIVING BEYOND LIMITS

It is not a tragedy to experience adversities, yet it is a tragedy to use those adversities as an excuse for giving up on life. One ship drives east and other drives west by the same winds that blow. It’s the set of the sails and not the gales that determines the way they go. So was the story of two brothers in a small village in the Eastern Cape. The twin brothers grew up knowing nothing, but poverty. Their father was an alcoholic and their mother was a domestic worker. They grew up with very little.

On their way home one day, their parent were involved in a bus accident and died instantly. The brother’s condition became even worse. At age 17 they separated. Years and years later, a family member decided to find them and have a family reunion.

One of the brother’s was a wealthy engineer, owning a construction company. He had three beautiful kids. The other was an alcoholic with no sense of direction for his life. The family members asked the engineer, “how did your life turn out like this?” “what did you expect with a childhood like mine?” he answered, she moved unto the other brother with the same question. “what did you expect from a childhood like mine?” was his answer. This tells us that it’s not what happens to us, but how we react to it makes the difference.

In all human endeavour, we will under go circumstances: diseases, deaths, heartbreaks, financial instability etc. while those circumstances are more than a good reason to quit, non of them will make a strong enough for us to give up on ourselves, on our dreams, on what we stand for as human beings.

Aristotle said: The ideal person bears the accident of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances. Therefore break the limits that life might throw at you and live beyond those limits.