Education is the pathway to a better life

May 24, 2019 Editorial

Tupac is not a rapper. He is neither known nor famous. He is now, though, through some spectacular efforts and achievements. He stands as an inspiration to the struggling, the down and out, and the often ignored and scorned.
This is his story, as relayed in an online article dated May 22nd in Yahoo’s Lifestyle section. It is worth retelling, if only to motivate young Guyanese students struggling with difficult circumstances; mature adults menaced by life’s harsh challenges; and the elderly on the downside of years that have not been kind. Once again, that timeless adage comes alive: where there is a will, there is a way.
Tupac Mosley is his name; excellence is his game. No! Not on the field of sport, but in the competitive corridors of the grandly named Raleigh Egypt High School in Memphis, Tennessee. At the tender age of 17, this young man had to overcome one traumatic adversity after another. That he did is testimony to the unconquerable trajectory of the human spirit, that powerful unbending desire to succeed, to question the fates. In some individuals, there is that unflagging determination, that unyielding will.
The Yahoo Lifestyle article title trumpets it before the whole wide world, “Homeless teen becomes class valedictorian, wins 3 million in college scholarships.” Homeless and class valedictorian? That is something special. Homeless and winning 3 million in college scholarships? That is even more overpowering to the senses. How did he?
To begin with, one thing has to be made clear: this young man’s rewards are not due to the handouts of others. He earned those rewards through recognition from a multitude of educational quarters for his dedication to succeed, and his single-minded focus on lifting himself up to the heights that beckoned, that could be possible. But only if he did not feel sorry for himself and collapsed on himself, due to his circumstances. The numbers are a part of his saga.
Tupac graduated Raleigh Egypt High with an incredible “4.3 GPA (attributed to extra credits from his advanced classes)”, according to Yahoo Lifestyle author Elise Sole. That he did so while his father died just over two years ago in April 2017 is one more remarkable aspect of his story. His father struggled for a long time; that could only have been draining and distracting.
His father’s death reduced the family to exist on the mother’s “tight income” alone. In February, the family was unable to meet the rent and evicted. Helping hands and sheltering roofs came from friends first, and then the Christian based not-for-profit body called “For the Kingdom.” Its Executive Director, Torrey Bates, offered a renovated home on his property. Mr. Bates was moved by the awareness of this child, driven to be a man beyond his years and because of his situation, through “often arriving hours early for classes.” And Bates described him as “an exceptional example of resilience.” Young Guyanese can learn. Rise to the challenges.
Meanwhile, he had the presence of mind to cast a wide net and apply to fifty universities, with the astonishing result that 44 of those 50 schools of higher learning offered admission and “generous aid.” That was not all in this tale that should bring goosebumps to those Guyanese, who come up poor and short. He was also a recipient of “the prestigious Gates Scholarship from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.” The Gates Scholarship is dedicated to funding low income and underprivileged minority students so that they can attend college through all-expenses paid scholarships.
As the poor know very well, education is the pathway to a better life. In his valedictorian address, the living Tupac quoting the one gone said, “…for every dark night, there is a brighter day.” For those who believe there is; for those who work hard, it comes through self-belief and the self-empowerment of seizing life and running with it. To splendour and joy!

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