Privileges You Don’t Want To Waste

Hello Friend,

I hope are well,

We have an endless selection of books, full of knowledge, within our reach, and we don’t think anything of it. We are sent to school, free of charge, and we take it for granted. These are immense privileges. Privileges which a lot of people don’t make the most of and ultimately waste, including myself in times gone by.

Here are a couple of quotes which have helped me to appreciate my reading and educational privileges:

Mark Twain says ‘The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read’. We might be literate and have the ability to read, but if we pass up the opportunities to do so, we have no advantage over anyone who is illiterate.

Never underestimate how far our privileges, if taken seriously, can take us. Nelson Mandela says ‘Education is the great engine for personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become head of the mine, that a child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we have now what we are given, that separates one person from another’. This is a man who was born in the tiniest, most rural of villages, with no means of formal education, who always took it up on himself to learn, and eventually becoming the first non-white head of state in South Africa, at the ripe old age of 75, after spending 27 years in prison.

Are we going to become the head of our nation? Most likely not! But that’s not the point. The point is, we should take full advantage of the privileges given to us. If we don’t, we are passing on something truly precious and priceless. We are wasting the gifts which people have fought and even died for. Let’s not waste it.

See you next time,

Yours Sincerely,

Tom