FORM ONE ANYTIME!

In 1993, I was the first form one to report to school. Partly because my parents were so happy and so eager to see me admitted on one of the most prestigious schools in the province. That was wrong according to the un-written code of being 'cool' in school. You don't just come on the first day....you bid your time.

I have to tell you that that dreaded thing called bullying that form ones go through happened to me. I think all bullies are miscreants...and I am not biased to say this. There are some who bullied me that are reading this...some are dead, others are whatever place they are in the world. I wonder how we would great each other today when we meet...few decades later.

Yet the experience of being a form one will always be one of those fundamental 'shapers' of my life. To be honest with you, despite the negatives of bullying and all the discomforts that I faced there, I have come to realize that I would gladly go back to that situation where I am a form one once again.

In fact, I would do that again and again and again as the chances come. You know why? Form ones grow! Pretty soon they catch up with the culture at school. They get up to speed with the lingo...and smart ones can easily pretend to be form two in less than a week!

Seriously, we have those form one situations all around us. You are newly married...guess what? You are a form one of sorts in that arena. You are about to grow. You are about to learn some new things. You had better...since growth is good for us.

There is no point for us being in form one in theory...it is OK, but nothing replaces the tangible experience we gain when physically there.

You can read as much as you want (and I read a lot by the way) but when you get that new job as a sales executive, guess what? Form One once again! I think you get the point.

One thing that really gave me a culture shock in my first year of high-school and pretty much the rest of the four years I spent there was the stark realization that there were some guys that were way, and I mean way ahead of me 'upstairs'. Whereas from my rural school I came tops at the final exams, I found out that in my stream in form one, I was at best, 70th! How the mighty fall!

And that is a pretty good thing if you ask me. That is why our kids need to be exposed to as much competition as possible.

The same thing happened to me when I joined college. As much as I studied (and study I did...I remember people would come to the library to specifically see 'how Lawrence is studying'), there was still people way ahead of me...and to them it came naturally. 

Needless to say, as much as we love comfort, it is good to have form one situations as often as possible, that way, we tend to grow.

At the moment, my form one situation is driving a manual transmission Mercedes Benz...kind of a classic or let me call it a relic...but I got to tell you that in the roads in Kampala, I am thoroughly a form One this week. The car stops at crucial stages and roundabouts, hills and other unforeseen situations...I get 'bullied' by people who are seemingly more entitled to the road than I am...but you know what? I am growing.

Form One anytime!!!

Have a school-filled day wont you?