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Puppies For Sale
By Felix | April 17, 2008
A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the pups and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the Eyes of a little boy.
Mister,” he said, “I want to buy one of your puppies.”
“Well,” said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, “these puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money.”
The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. “I’ve got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?”
“Sure,” said the farmer.
And with that he let out a whistle, “Here, Dolly!” he called.
Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.
As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared; this One noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up….
“I want that one,” the little boy said, pointing to the runt.
The farmer knelt down at the boy’s side and said, “Son, you don’t want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would.”
With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, “You see sir, I don’t run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands.”
Moral of the story is; The world is full of people who need someone who understands.
I have been on streets and know what it feels like to be there, other people in your eyes as a street boy, looked like they are struggling through life and the salary earner looked like he was in a rat race that he will never make anything big out of, because it seemed all you had to do was come up with a good story, look for the right victim and boom you are in money.
At least that’s how it looked at the beginning, until you start going through problems with the law and you have to lie sometimes when you are in a group of people who have worthwhile jobs they can talk about openly. The sad part is a few months ago you were rolling in money and now you look like a pauper who has never seen money before and you go about telling the tale of when you hits it big and bought a flashy car and had money at your disposal only to be broke now with bigger, and higher hopes of the next big hit and how you are going to be cautious with the spending and be wise enough to invest the next time.
After a while, you start think of starting a business that can sustain you without having to do the things you do, but who is going to give you a chance now, or like some of us who went to school before the scam thing, we put it this way; where will I work and get paid a good sum to sustain me.
Well truth is I had been through it and I understand it perfectly, that’s why I came up with this initiative and our last meeting that held last Saturday 12th April was really an eye opener for some these guys, because I was able to bring to their consciousness, easy, sure deliberate steps , that didn’t take rocket science to be able to achieve their big dreams. Steps that involved work of course and work isn’t new to them, since some of them are aware of boys who have worked 2 to 4years on the streets without making a dime and still had unflinching believe that someday they were going to hit it big.
The turnout was good, a lot of new faces and they were all excited to have made it there that day after I had used about 4hours to download on them the possibilities that existed
It was a bit tiring this time around for me, because I had no guest speakers. I started with reviewing what the first meeting was about and because we had new members in our setting, I had to review the whole goal and purpose of the meetings, which is to get boys (and girls) off the streets, girls in bracket, because my mission is targeted on scams.
The meeting ended on a high note with everyone wanting to attend the trainings and find new roles that will suit them in the options I shared with them.
The encouraging part of it is when you see that the value you are adding is showing, this week alone, I have had about 3visitors, on two different days who came to discuss their plans of getting into legit business and it felt good to assist them where I could.
I guess someday my tall dream of lighting candles, who will in turn light others and rebranding the image of Nigeria home and abroad will come to light, if it’s 2 or 3 a week or a month that the initiative is able to affect positively for now, it could go a long way when they start recruiting others. In all of this, I learnt something from Marian Wright Edelman quote:
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
Topics: Streets Skills, change, motivation |
April 17th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Life is a process,a step n a journey.the key is to try and understand where ppl are coming from.when you knw what they’ve been through, you’ll be more understanding.instead of talking about how far they still have to go,you’ll realise how far they’ve come in spite of their hurts.
people need a safe place to share their struggles without being judged n they have a right to expect confidentiality!only in a safe environment of acceptance will people open up n share their deepest needs.
KIP DA CAMP FIRE BURNING!!Xxx SWITS!!
April 17th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Thank you so very much for making me cry on that lil puppie story.. as u know it reminded me of my daughter whom does wear those leg braces, many things she has never adapted to and is known as handicap, u give detail on financial well being and i just want to say that some as i are wealthy in other areas that many themselves have no idea on how to handle life and the situation that they face as i did 19 yrs ago…but i looked my situation in the eyes and faced it head on, i worked 24/7 and at times with no sleep to get my girl to the best of her ability, so that someday she can survive here on earth with out me. and the fruits of my labor are bearing fruit its taken me 19 yrs but i never and will never give up hope of her success of independence, so i guess in the long run i also have shown that there are joys and happiness with hard work and have given other parents with special needs children the courage to work hard at getting their children to the best of their abilities, and not handing that responsibility off to others. There is this saying .. “God never gives u more then u can handle” .. i do beg to differ and say this.. u are at times given way more then u bargained for and at times more then one soul can handle, reasons being i believe is… When u are a child of God u will go through life with major struggles, hurt and tears.. and at times more then u can handle only due to our Father wanting u to lean on him and asking him for help to carry u threw those times u fall, learning a richer faith and deeper love… so i guess it depends on ones life and the purpose of its being, i am a giver something i have learned over the years and know my purpose, i am one of the most blessed women u will ever meet and its not from anything this earth can provide. just knowing the true meaning of life is a blessing in itself. wink.. hagn xxx
April 18th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Like always i can only see you touching lives positivly, you have alot in you that i and others will always want to exploit. keep it up bro
April 18th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Felix u re like a lamp, even if d wind blows,u still stay lighted, keep burning, the sky is ur beginning.
April 19th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
A touching preamble. There are a lot we really can do to make a difference in our world…
April 20th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Nice Post…I wish i had an good experience of the street-life. You make it interesting but i’m sure it was not…Keep the fire burning!!!