Ghetto Born, God Raised

He was on the edge of his seat; the laptop almost fell out of his hand. His eyes were fixated on this guy on the screen, walking from left to right and right to left, the laptop was in full screen mode and he was ready to hear what got Kadia so worked up and what this secret to success is. The man started with a question, let me see how "How many of you in this room want to be successful?" Every hand in the cameras view went high. He started, “let me tell you a story”. A young man wanted to make a lot of money and a successful businessman, so he went to a very successful business guru and asked, “Teach me to be like you, I want to be successful”. The guru held his chin and looked at him and said, "Ok, meet me at the beach tomorrow at 5 AM." The next morning at 5 AM, there was the pupil ready to learn from the master, the secrets of success. He was fully dressed in a full three piece suit. The guru looked at him, smiled and stepped in the water. "So, you want to learn to be successful?" He asked. "Yes, I do,” He replied, excitedly. “How badly do you want it?” “I want it really bad.” "Okay then, come" The guru said as he started going further out into the water. The pupil then looked at the guru walking out into the water and looked at his new and expensive suit, and then he proceeded to follow. "I can't swim you know,” he said. Again, the guru smiled and said, "Come further" He frowned, but the curiosity of this lesson drove him. He was willing to learn, he was waist deep in the water when the guru turned around to him and asked, “Do you want to be successful?” He replied, “Yes I want to be successful, but what does success have to do with coming out into the water so early in the morning?” The guru smiled, turned around and said “come a little further” Soon, he was up to his mouth. Instead of procrastinating, he turned around and headed towards the shore, muttering under his breath that the guru was crazy. The guru seeing this, called to him and asked, “I thought you wanted to be successful.” He turned around and said, "I do." The pupil stepped further and as he reached the guru, the guru grabbed him by the hand and shoved his head under the water. The pupil was there, kicking and trying to come up; he was almost drowning when the guru lifted his head out of the water. He fought and fought trying to get up, but couldn’t, he wasn’t strong enough. Before he was about to pass out, the man pulled him and asked him, "When I held you under water, what did you really want just now? Right there, the speaker stopped the story and asked the group of students in the room, “When the guru had his pupils head underwater, what did the pupil want?” Shouts came from all over the room, “Air” “Oxygen” The speaker interrupted, “not the word I’m quite looking for.” Someone from the back said something vague, I couldn’t hear it by listening to the video, but luckily, the speaker repeated it. “That’s it, he wanted to breathe. The pupil said that he guru that he wanted to breathe” The guru then said to the pupil... “Well... that’s your lesson, whenever you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful.” The speaker continued, "How many of you have asthma?" Scattered hands started to raise their hands across the room. “Now when you get an asthma attack, do you care about the party that’s going down tonight or the new series that is coming on that you are longing to watch?” There was a pause and within the pause there was complete silence in the room. “No, you don’t,” He stated quite sternly, “you just want to breathe.” He then said something that it was on the tips of Eric’s lips at this moment, but it was even more profound when the speaker said the words and Eric even had to replay that part a couple of times, just to reassure himself and let the words soak into his being. The speaker said, “If you want to be successful, you can’t just kinda want it, you've got to want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful.” Still on the edge of his seat, jaws dropped, Eric was amazed, and he was just trying to take all this in. It was truly profound because deep down Eric knew that already, but the speaker, Eric Thomas, through this video was there confirming it. The speaker continued on… “We are most times on our roadway and when we feel tired, so we quit. When you get to that point where all you want to do is to be successful as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful. Many people talk about being successful, but they don’t usually want it bad, they just kinda want it They don’t want it as bad as they want to party or be cool. Most people don’t want success as bad as they want to sleep. If you’re ever going to be successful; something has got to give, you have to pass up some stuff that you treasure and hold onto and really love, if you are ever to reach success. “ “Because,” he paused, “if you stop, if you get distracted, you might miss the chance that ONE shot where you can truly be successful.” His face now pouring with sweat, it was evident looking at his shirt, he was there wiping his face, pacing, the students in the forum were paying full and keen attention to him. “There is a commercial with Emmett Smith winning the Super Bowl. He was in the gym bench pressing and being interviewed.” The reporter asked him, “Now that you have won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do now?” Just then he stopped, placed the weight down, looked at the reporter and then said, “I think I’ll rest.” After two seconds, he started again, in the reporters mind, he couldn’t understand it, but Emmett understood that if he is to ever reach the level of success he wants, he can’t stop, he must go on for his dreams were not done yet, he wasn’t yet at the finish line, just in the lead. There are times that come where we’re down and we’re crying because we are sad or disheartened, don’t cry because the journey is hard or that you’re in pain, but cry to keep going.” His voice was soft and soothing, but now was stern was serious, “Don’t cry to quit, you’re already on your face… You're already in pain and hurt and poor and need help... The least you can do is get a reward from it. Push yourself past the limits, don’t sleep till you find a way and if you haven’t found that way, get up and walk and who knows on the way, you will find what you’re looking for.” The video went on to speak about celebrities and as the video was there playing, Eric started to cry, the tears came down in single file, but soon started to rush out like an angry mob. He had a dream, but he had given up. He didn’t have the money needed to go back to school to get his degree, so he tossed in the towel and put it on back burner, he knew he would pick it up someday, but this video, told him that it was time to pick it up back now. Let me ask you, do you have a dream, goal or even a wish you want so badly to see fulfilled? How badly do you want it? How far are you willing to go? Can you say to yourself that “Yes, I can?” When things seem as they are going downhill, what do you do? Do you procrastinate? Do you doubt yourself? Do you start to listen to what others are saying? “No, that’s too hard for you” “Try something else, you’re not good enough” “You've got to want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful” That video changed Eric and when he saw the credits coming up, he was no longer on the edge of his seat, now he was relaxing on the chair. He didn’t realize that the rain was falling, nor that it was also now dark outside. He had spent two hours looking for a video that lasted a little just 12 minutes, but left a scar on him forever, not one to hide and be ashamed of, but to wear and show it to the world proudly.