THE POWER OF LEGACY
A few hours ago, I was at Police
Children School to pick admission form for the chap. His honeymoon period has
ended; he’s going to school.
Four of us from the Tungchamma
household have schooled there before. We are all identified by one name
“Lengdung Apolos”.
You see, the Legend began when I
became the Senior Prefect. My immediate younger sister went on to become Senior
Perfect 2 years later. And Walkat, will go on to become a Prefect 2 years after
too. Yilrit did not become a Prefect but was Class Monitor.
All of them faced the “Lengdung
Apolos” name and they had to live with it. It was a big shoe to fill for each
of them. Not surprising, the Legacy is still there. They all introduced me the
same way as though it was just last year I left school.
There is an advantage to such
legacies, which is of course that whoever has to fill the shoes will have to
work hard- which is good for him or her. I don’t need to tell you that I am
proud of the legacy we kept there, at the very least we made our Pa proud.
The disadvantage of such legacies
is that the pressure can be negative. As it has been on Yilrit.
Sorry, I didn’t finish the legacy
story. All the three of us went ahead to become Senior Prefect in our
respective secondary school. Walkat became the Senior Prefect since she was in
JSS2, she’s presently in SS3 and she has held on to the title as though it is a
family heritage. Unfortunately for Yilrit, she was sent to the same school as
Walkat. She has had to live with the immediate effect of the big shoes that her
Elder Sister had set and I tell you, it’s been tough for her.
Yilrit is made of different kinds of stuff.
Her business acumen is extraordinary. She has the exceptional ability to create and doing kinds of stuff no matter how hard, she would rather begin a thing than to
conclude it. In class, she is either 6th or 5th in a
class of 20. Her teachers, on the other hand, are not satisfied with such a person.
They want her to live like Walkat. They want her to take 1st
position. The pressure on her was immense until I stopped adding to her pains
and understood her world. She is happier and fulfilled. Sometimes she comes 3rd
or 4th. It depends on many things, one of which includes her
numerous upstarts. Yilrit doesn’t want to spend all her life reading books and
paying attention as Walkat does, she prefers to try new things and do something
she has never done before. And most especially, she likes to sell.
Understanding both of them
has given me a different view of life and school.
Lengshak has a big shoe to
fill. A legacy that has been maintained by 4 different persons. As much as
possible, I would ensure he gets all he needs but I will not allow that to be
the template with which I measure his success. We are all intelligent, but all
different and have different roles in life. I trust God to help me as I help
him to find his role and to make excellent in it.
P.S: Playing is not his role. He must be excellent.
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