I can’t think of a better heart warming catalyst than seeing someone realise their potential, except to maybe play a part in that realisation.
I can’t claim any part of realisation in this story, but my heart was warmed nonetheless when I saw an old/young colleague a few days ago. A young man who I first met some 20+ years earlier when he came to work one summer at TDC Home & Building, via the scholarship programme they’d been running(and still offer).
In fact, we got off to a rocky start back then, because that fella, a young scrappy school child from McKnight, had a tongue as sharp as his wit and he was very very smart, the killer combination of street smarts and intellect. You could not help but see his potential bubbling over- if he’d just shut up…lol. Anyway, eventually we became good even while trading light hearted disses, our terms of endearment.
I had not realised until close to his summer stint winding down, that he was the brother of an old primary(Boy’s School) classmate, a guy who was just known for trouble, and you tried to stay out of his orbit. And as if to leave no doubt of his “thread carefully around me” stance, he once got suspended for bringing a knife to school-with intent! He was not considered to be “bright” and for the most part- at least from my vantage point on the floor with the other students- another lost case/cause to be forgotten.
My realisation then of the connection caused me to reflect on “opportunities afforded” and “potential realised and lost” and how some paths grow greener when nurtured. At what point do we get a KIM COLLINS instead of a Kim Collins? And having witnessed this young man go from that stint at TDC into a management position at a multi national corp, getting married and starting a family is a story I’d like to write everyday.
So when I hailed him this week in passing, we both stopped what we were doing, grinning like lil boys, hand shakes, hugs and best wishes to the family and then each let the other go do what we had to…or at least what we believe we could.