May your road be rough

May your road be rough. These were the words of Tai Solarin, a great Nigerian educator , that were echoed by my secondary school principal at the beginning of every school term. It is only about ten years later that I fully understand the meaning of those words. I am now a medical student who lives from examination to examination; with constant angst about the future and constant ruminations about the past. Our success is contingent upon the amount of risk we are willing to take; great things hardly come easy; and perspiration is essential to gratification. I am thankful for a rough road, I am thankful for obstacles and challenges, and I am thankful for the things that didn’t go my way. For if not for those things, the taste of future success wouldn’t be so savory, and the smell of future accomplishments wouldn’t be so ambroisal. So, I am looking forward to a rough road. I am ready for a tough journey. And by the grace of God and the help of man, I shall overcome.