With Aicha
Do you have good work ethic? This is a question that everyone with a good conscience should ask themselves sometime.
Good work ethic; made up of values such as hard work, diligence, persistence, focus doing the right thing and doing things right; is a quest that should be one’s life mission.
There are many a definition, based on myriad researches and cultures, as to what would constitute a good work ethic.
No society encourages laziness and sloppiness.
Even where these seem tolerated, it is as a result of a breakdown in social values.
There are no shortcuts to success, instead you need to put in hard work and persistence to be able to succeed.
You might disagree with me and say that you have been working hard all your life and it haven’t paid off a bit.
It appears to be true at first sight, but look at those who have succeeded.
Not those who have got somewhere thanks to nepotism or corrupted manners, but those who have succeeded on their own.
Is that even possible? Well, I don’t know if I can speak from my own experience, as when I look back on my life the path has been crooked like a maggot with stomach pain.
I have faced my kind of success, reached as far a I was able to looking at the circumstances I was born in to.
Are you familiar with the expression ”class trip”? I am not speaking about an excursion with the school mates, with class I refere to social class.
We like to believe that nowadays we live in a society where we don’t have social classes, but that is only a bit hidden and it still exists.
It was more obvious though, when I was a kid.
A class trip is when you have been able to improve your life, that the difference between the circumstances you were born in to are very different from how you are able to live now.
I was born 1962 in Finland, my parents were very poor and life was hard.
We moved a lot, maybe once a year, when my father got in trouble somehow.
He had a bad temper and could explode when he was irritated for some reason.
The alcohol he consumed didn’t make it better, instead life became more miserable. We never had enough money for food and everything a family needed.
My mother worked like crazy, she often took double shifts at the factory where she was working. She took every kind of work she could get, often in factories as she didn’t have any education and this kind of work was easy to get.
My father was a lorry driver and he worked hard as long as he was sober.
His money went for tobacco and alcohol, the family didn’t matter to him.
My mother had to support the family and often dad tried to force her to pay for his pleasures – smoking and drinking. They fought a lot about this and when I look back at life I do understand why my Mum was angry so often. She was exhausted, working so hard and constantly worrying about money.
At the beginning of 1969 my parents divorced and in August the same year my Mum, sister and I moved to Sweden.
My mother had been living there while it was war in Finland and she had kept contact with the couple she had been living with, Gunnar and Linnéa.
Linnéa had died and Gunnar felt so alone, he asked if we could move to Sweden to live with him. Said and done, we packed our things and came to Sweden two weeks before school began.
I couldn’t speak a single word in Swedish and I was extremly shy.
It was awful to begin school, I was so afraid every day and as there were no more foreigners in our village than my sister and I they didn’t know how to handle the situation.
We were very much left to ourselves, trying to manage through every day.
My sister became popular very quickly, she was beautiful and had long blond hair.
I was shy, didn’t speak to anyone and no one spoke to me. They looked at me as I was an alien from outer space or something.
I hated the recesses because the school play ground was like a djungle full of dangerous animals and I was their prey.
The teachers went in to the staff room and didn’t come out again until the recess was over.
I was so scared, I began to pee myself.
I remember that I waited until the last minute to ask for permission to go to the toilet and when I finally reached there I could stand outside holding the handle and wet myself.
It was awful, the other pupils laughed at my humiliation and I knew that I would get beaten when I came home.
For all of you who think that corporal punishment is okay – stop it immediately!!! It is so humiliating and it doesn’t do any good! Get angry if you need to, but never hit the child! In my case of course it didn’t help me to stop wetting myself.
My life has been a struggle but I never gave up even if it felt hopeless sometimes.
I am a stubborn person, which can be annoying for people around me, but when I know I am right I never give up.
Sometimes I only have to gather some more strength, find more arguments and begin again.
I have many times felt that I was a mistake, I wasn’t meant to be – but here I am so it is up to me to make the best of it.
It doesn’t help to complain, blame others and feel like a victim.
Life knocks you down, but you have to get up on your feet again.
God gave each and everyone of us life as a gift, it is up to us to make the best of it and to cherish that gift.
Nothing comes for free in life, even if a lot of people are lured to believe that.
I like internet, it is a good tool for spreading valuable information, but you can fin a lot of trash there too.
Gaming is one example, and all of us know that the holy Qour’an doesn’t allow us to gamble. This is a huge problem in Sweden but we have got new laws that are more strict.
This is hard to deal with, as most companies that have gambling as a business are stationed somewhere abroad where they don’t have the same rules and laws.
Looking and listening to all the advertice about the games can be very tempting.
People who participate in the TV commercials look happy.
They are young, good looking and seem to live in luxury.
The fact that these are actors in a TV studio is nothing the companies wish to talk about.
There are no easy money, instead you lose your money because of your greed.
In the old days our society here in Sweden was divided, it had clear borders between the social classes.
The tradition told that the sons inherited their father’s profession, so if the father was a farmer the sons had no other option but to become farmers.
It looked like this in all social classes, the only difference was what kind of profession you could have. A farmer’s son couldn’t decide to become a priest or the shoe maker become a tailor.
They meant that you should be satisfied with what you had and never ask for anything else. It’s saddening, don’t you think? That you shouldn’t have any options, no dreams, no change if you don’t like the way your life has taken.
We didn’t have different tribes that according to the tradition were farmers or business men or musicians.
The system was kind of the same anyway, but it changed in the end of the 19:th century when Sweden became more and more industrialized. A lot of people moved in to the towns, where the factories were placed, and the roles in the society changed forever.
The elderly felt very uncomfortable with this, but time doesn’t stand still. We need to follow our time and instead make the best of it.
Ask yourself; what is best for you and your family ? What do you dream about and is there any possibility to in some what fullfill at least a small part of that dream? If you have children – what are your dreams for them? If you have a spouse – have you two been speaking about your dreams with each other? Sometimes you can get happy by making someone else happy, so what can you do in that matter? Are you prepared to work hard and achieve as much as you can?
If I didn’t learn anything else from my upbringing at least I learned to work hard and to never give up.
While I was studying I worked extra cleaning elderly peoples homes, I played the piano and sang at church gatherings for the elderly.
After my studies were completed I worked as a music teacher and church musician, but I didn’t always have a permanent job.
I have been cleaning at a car mechanique, working at a home for the elderly, cleaning at a hair salong.
I don’t remember all I have done, but I have never been picky.
As long as it was a decent job it was okay for me.
I have been living on a farm for the most of my life, and as a farmer’s kid you must be prepared to do a lot of things.
Living on a farm doesn’t make anyone rich, but we had food every day and learned good work ethics.
That is the best gift I could get, and that is what my children have inherited from me.
We can have dreams for ourselves and our families, but we can also dream about our country and the current situation.
What can be done to improve the situation in the Gambia? Are you satisfied with everything or is there something that you feel needs to change? Is there something YOU can do about it? What can be done to improve your own village or the part of the town where you live? Can you do it yourself or get together with others? Must you listen to all those who say no, who don’t understand the benefits of your idea? If no one would be prepared to skip the conventions you wouldn’t have light bulbs in your home.
You wouldn’t have internet or a mobile phone. There would be no cars out on the streets or planes in the air. All these things are created by people who were stubborn, who had an idea and who didn’t stop because they knew deep in their heart that the idea was good.
They were persistent, they worked hard and that payed off.
So – what is your goal? Are you willing to work hard for it?Do you have good work ethic? This is a question that everyone with a good conscience should ask themselves sometime. Good work ethic; made up of values such as hard work, diligence, persistence, focus doing the right thing and doing things right; is a quest that should be one’s life mission.
There are many a definition, based on myriad researches and cultures, as to what would constitute a good work ethic. No society encourages laziness and sloppiness.
Even where these seem tolerated, it is as a result of a breakdown in social values.
There are no shortcuts to success, instead you need to put in hard work and persistence to be able to succeed.
You might disagree with me and say that you have been working hard all your life and it haven’t paid off a bit.
It appears to be true at first sight, but look at those who have succeeded. Not those who have got somewhere thanks to nepotism or corrupted manners, but those who have succeeded on their own.
Is that even possible? Well, I don’t know if I can speak from my own experience, as when I look back on my life the path has been crooked like a maggot with stomach pain.
I have faced my kind of success, reached as far a I was able to looking at the circumstances I was born in to.
Are you familiar with the expression ”class trip”? I am not speaking about an excursion with the school mates, with class I refere to social class.
We like to believe that nowadays we live in a society where we don’t have social classes, but that is only a bit hidden and it still exists.
It was more obvious though, when I was a kid.
A class trip is when you have been able to improve your life, that the difference between the circumstances you were born in to are very different from how you are able to live now.
I was born 1962 in Finland, my parents were very poor and life was hard.
We moved a lot, maybe once a year, when my father got in trouble somehow. He had a bad temper and could explode when he was irritated for some reason.
The alcohol he consumed didn’t make it better, instead life became more miserable. We never had enough money for food and everything a family needed.
My mother worked like crazy, she often took double shifts at the factory where she was working.
She took every kind of work she could get, often in factories as she didn’t have any education and this kind of work was easy to get.
My father was a lorry driver and he worked hard as long as he was sober.
His money went for tobacco and alcohol, the family didn’t matter to him.
My mother had to support the family and often dad tried to force her to pay for his pleasures – smoking and drinking.
They fought a lot about this and when I look back at life I do understand why my Mum was angry so often.
She was exhausted, working so hard and constantly worrying about money.
At the beginning of 1969 my parents divorced and in August the same year my Mum, sister and I moved to Sweden.
My mother had been living there while it was war in Finland and she had kept contact with the couple she had been living with, Gunnar and Linnéa. Linnéa had died and Gunnar felt so alone, he asked if we could move to Sweden to live with him.
Said and done, we packed our things and came to Sweden two weeks before school began.
I couldn’t speak a single word in Swedish and I was extremly shy.
It was awful to begin school, I was so afraid every day and as there were no more foreigners in our village than my sister and I they didn’t know how to handle the situation.
We were very much left to ourselves, trying to manage through every day.
My sister became popular very quickly, she was beautiful and had long blond hair.
I was shy, didn’t speak to anyone and no one spoke to me.
They looked at me as I was an alien from outer space or something.
I hated the recesses because the school play ground was like a djungle full of dangerous animals and I was their prey.
The teachers went in to the staff room and didn’t come out again until the recess was over.
I was so scared, I began to pee myself.
I remember that I waited until the last minute to ask for permission to go to the toilet and when I finally reached there I could stand outside holding the handle and wet myself.
It was awful, the other pupils laughed at my humiliation and I knew that I would get beaten when I came home.
For all of you who think that corporal punishment is okay – stop it immediately!!! It is so humiliating and it doesn’t do any good! Get angry if you need to, but never hit the child! In my case of course it didn’t help me to stop wetting myself.
My life has been a struggle but I never gave up even if it felt hopeless sometimes.
I am a stubborn person, which can be annoying for people around me, but when I know I am right I never give up.
Sometimes I only have to gather some more strength, find more arguments and begin again.
I have many times felt that I was a mistake, I wasn’t meant to be – but here I am so it is up to me to make the best of it.
It doesn’t help to complain, blame others and feel like a victim.
Life knocks you down, but you have to get up on your feet again. God gave each and everyone of us life as a gift, it is up to us to make the best of it and to cherish that gift.
Nothing comes for free in life, even if a lot of people are lured to believe that.
I like internet, it is a good tool for spreading valuable information, but you can fin a lot of trash there too. Gaming is one example, and all of us know that the holy Qur’an doesn’t allow us to gamble.
This is a huge problem in Sweden but we have got new laws that are more strict.
This is hard to deal with, as most companies that have gambling as a business are stationed somewhere abroad where they don’t have the same rules and laws.
Looking and listening to all the advertice about the games can be very tempting.
People who participate in the TV commercials look happy.
They are young, good looking and seem to live in luxury.
The fact that these are actors in a TV studio is nothing the companies wish to talk about. There are no easy money, instead you lose your money because of your greed.
In the old days our society here in Sweden was divided, it had clear borders between the social classes.
The tradition told that the sons inherited their father’s profession, so if the father was a farmer the sons had no other option but to become farmers.
It looked like this in all social classes, the only difference was what kind of profession you could have.
A farmer’s son couldn’t decide to become a priest or the shoe maker become a tailor.
They meant that you should be satisfied with what you had and never ask for anything else.
It’s saddening, don’t you think? That you shouldn’t have any options, no dreams, no change if you don’t like the way your life has taken.
We didn’t have different tribes that according to the tradition were farmers or business men or musicians.
The system was kind of the same anyway, but it changed in the end of the 19:th century when Sweden became more and more industrialized.
A lot of people moved in to the towns, where the factories were placed, and the roles in the society changed forever.
The elderly felt very uncomfortable with this, but time doesn’t stand still.
We need to follow our time and instead make the best of it.
Ask yourself; what is best for you and your family ? What do you dream about and is there any possibility to in some what fullfill at least a small part of that dream? If you have children – what are your dreams for them? If you have a spouse – have you two been speaking about your dreams with each other? Sometimes you can get happy by making someone else happy, so what can you do in that matter? Are you prepared to work hard and achieve as much as you can?
If I didn’t learn anything else from my upbringing at least I learned to work hard and to never give up.
While I was studying I worked extra cleaning elderly peoples homes, I played the piano and sang at church gatherings for the elderly.
After my studies were completed I worked as a music teacher and church musician, but I didn’t always have a permanent job.
I have been cleaning at a car mechanique, working at a home for the elderly, cleaning at a hair salong.
I don’t remember all I have done, but I have never been picky.
As long as it was a decent job it was okay for me. I have been living on a farm for the most of my life, and as a farmer’s kid you must be prepared to do a lot of things.
Living on a farm doesn’t make anyone rich, but we had food every day and learned good work ethics.
That is the best gift I could get, and that is what my children have inherited from me.
We can have dreams for ourselves and our families, but we can also dream about our country and the current situation.
What can be done to improve the situation in the Gambia? Are you satisfied with everything or is there something that you feel needs to change? Is there something YOU can do about it? What can be done to improve your own village or the part of the town where you live? Can you do it yourself or get together with others? Must you listen to all those who say no, who don’t understand the benefits of your idea? If no one would be prepared to skip the conventions you wouldn’t have light bulbs in your home.
You wouldn’t have internet or a mobile phone.
There would be no cars out on the streets or planes in the air.
All these things are created by people who were stubborn, who had an idea and who didn’t stop because they knew deep in their heart that the idea was good.
They were persistent, they worked hard and that payed off.
So – what is your goal? Are you willing to work hard for it?
