The opium of the masses

Have you ever failed so bad you shock yourself into getting born again?

That was me in high school, when during the Mocks - the most feared, index number defining exams - I got a B in Biology.

It kind of rhymes but that’s besides the point.

Not to brag (actually allow me to): As an A student, one aspiring to be a neurosurgeon like Ben Carson, because the book ‘Think Big’ happened, anything less than an A was deemed a failure.

Following my failure, I took refuge in the arms of religion, further making the point for Karl Max when he says that religion is like opium of the people: it reduces immediate suffering and provides them with pleasant illusions which gives them the strength to carry on.

Verbatim; “religion... is the opiate of the masses.” After the shock and surprise came denial, then anger and blame.

I blamed everyone but myself, including the chilly weather than was not conducive for tackling exams and the food that was not nutritious enough to offer required minerals and whatever else to my brain.

You name it, I found something wrong with it. Then came depression, which didn’t last long before I accepted my situation.

It is the same cycle entrepreneurs go through in every wake. Most times your plan fails to work out, forcing you to go back to the drawing board.

For me, I obviously didn’t end up a neurosurgeon.

I’ll have you know I wouldn’t have made a great one either because boy am I clumsy, plus ‘Think Big’ was the only thing pushing me to becoming one.

In any case I found my true passion in writing.