It takes 'U'-2

It takes “U” – Part 2

Complaining, worrying or crying about a problem will not solve the problem. You have to do something about it. You have to take concrete steps towards making the problem go away. You can’t wish the problem away. You must take action. As my inspirational boss would say, we all need to take a bottle of M.A.L.T. That is, More Action Less Talk. Unfortunately, it is the other way round with a lot of people. For them it is more talk less action. A friend of mine would always remind us that talk is cheap and that we should not just talk but act. We cannot continue to wait for people to rescue us from any unsavoury situation we find ourselves in.

One thing I have discovered is that when we take a step, things begin to fall in place. Help comes from where we were not even expecting. Favours just pour in from everywhere and we are surprised at how things have turned around quickly. That is why we should refuse to overanalyse a situation before taking action. Again I want to borrow a statement from my inspirational boss’ repertoire of sayings and it is that overanalysis leads to paralysis.

I have my car back now after the crash. But all this would not have been possible if when the crash happened all I did was wail and lament my ‘woes’. If I had looked at my financial state then, I would not have been able to repair the damage. When the panel beater told me what I would pay for his services and I  was thinking of where to get the money, my inspirational boss offered to foot part of the bill. He was the first person to bring out money for the repair (even before I did!) Some few days after, someone else also gave me some money and I was able to pay for the repairs and painting. If I had decided to wait to repair the car until I had all the money I needed, I probably would not have achieved anything.

Martin Luther King (Jnr) would not have accomplished anything if all he did was complain about the way blacks were treated in the United States. His efforts then have led to the emergence of a black president of the United States of America. If on that day in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks had not refused to give up her bus seat to a white man, only God knows for how long blacks would have suffered discrimination on in public buses. I find this incident intriguing, thus I want to share it with you:

Parks was riding home from work on the Cleveland Avenue bus line in Montgomery when she refused to give up her place in the front row of the 'coloured section' to a white man who could find no seat in the section reserved for whites. Her refusal to move to the back of the bus defied local ordinances and Alabama state statutes requiring segregation in public transportation. The driver called the police, and Parks was arrested, jailed, and eventually convicted of violating segregation laws. She was fined $10, plus $4 in court costs.

The black community in Montgomery was outraged by the case and organised a bus boycott that began as a one-day demonstration. But the boycott lasted 381 days in all, with nearly unanimous support from the 50,000 African Americans in Montgomery. Protesters formed an organization called the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) under the leadership of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Sympathisers were urged not to ride on Montgomery’s segregated buses and other means of transportation was found for them. In November 1956, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a federal court decision which ordered the Montgomery buses desegregated. The order took effect the following month and this led to thecancellation of the boycott.

Can you see the outcome of one woman’s action? So if you are thinking of how to get out of that situation, I urge you to take a bottle of M.A.L.T.