Everybody has a diamond inside
Life is a story. Everything you are doing is a story that some years later others will tell other people. There is an exciting story shared by Sean Buranahiran. It gives a different dimension into which you can look into yourself, position yourself in this challenging world, and earn the authority and recognition that you deserve.
Here is the story as narrated by Sean. One day a young boy asked his father, ‘what is the value of his life?’ Instead of answering the father asked his son to take a piece of rock and go and sell it on the market. If anybody asks for a price, the son was advised to raise two fingers only and say nothing.
“The boy then went to the market,” Buranahiran goes on to explain, “and a woman asked how much is this rock? I want to put it in my garden. The boy didn’t say anything but only raised two fingers.”
The woman said: “2 dollars? I will take it.”
The boy went to his father and told him that a woman wanted to buy the rock for two dollars.
The father told the boy: “Son, I want you to go to the museum and if anybody wants to buy it, don’t say a word, just put up two fingers.”
The boy then went to the museum and a man wanted to buy the rock. The boy didn’t say a word but just put up two fingers.
The man said: “200 dollars? I will take it.” The boy was shocked. He run home and told his father that a man wanted to buy the rock at 200 dollars.
His father said: “Son, the last place I want you to take this rock to is a precious stone store. Show it to the owner and don’t say a word. If he asks for a price, just show two fingers.”
The son went to a precious stone store and showed the rock to the owner. The owner was amazed and said: “Where did you find this precious stone? It is one of the most rarest stones in the world. I must have it. How much would you sell it?”
The boy put up two fingers and the man said “I will take it for 200 thousand dollars.” The boy not knowing what to say rushed home and told his father that a man wanted to buy the rock for 200 thousand dollars.
The father then said: “Son, do you know the value of your life now? It doesn’t matter where you come from, where you were born, the colour of your skin, or how much money you were born into. It matters where you decide to place yourself, the people you surround yourself with and how you choose to carry yourself.”
Buranahiran eventually teaches us all: “you may have lived your whole life thinking that you were a 2 dollars stone, you may have live your whole life surrounded by people that saw you as worth 2 dollars but everybody has a diamond inside them and we can choose to surround ourselves with people that see our value and see the diamond inside us all. We can choose to put ourselves in a market or put ourselves in a precious stone store. And you can choose to see the value in other people. You can help other people see the diamond inside of them. Choose the people you surround yourself with wisely and that can make all the difference in your life.”
You may be failing to achieve in life because you have been underrating yourself. All the people that have achieved in life had strong belief in the diamond that was in them. They believed they were capable of breaking records, capable of leading top notch innovations, capable of changing the course of history. They ignored the 2 dollars value that people put on them; they believed they were the precious stone.
Look at the background of Oprah Winfrey – abused as a child, Nick Vujicic – born without arms and legs, Michael Jordan – dropped out of the college basketball team, Napoleon Dzombe – secondary school dropout, Bill Gates – college dropout, William Kamkwamba– poverty stricken child labeled mad by onlookers, Thomson Mpinganjira – several times denied a banking licence, Les Brown – labeled educable mentally retarded… the list goes on. These people realised the diamond in them. They did not let the backgrounds they grew up in let alone the challenges they encountered in life to obscure and obstacle their journey to destiny and no wonder we talk their stories. Add yourself to the list.
Special thanks to former Director General for the Anti Corruption Bureau, Lucas Kondowe, who shared me the precious stone video on whatsapp. If I had not surrounded myself with people of his caliber, I would not have been sharing this wonderful story with you.
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