How I Lost My Way

In 2002 after I delivered my first speech during evening assembly, a prefect commended me for it the following day when I reported to his study for duty. I was in Form 1 that year.
A classmate also thought my speech was wonderful given the way he asked me whether my senior brother Paddy, who was also in the school, had penned it. What I didn't disclose to the classmate was that I had intelligently plagiarized the contents of the speech from a social education and ethics textbook.
Then in January 2007 during my final year in Starehe, I delivered three inspiring speeches that earned me some peer respect, thus encouraging me to continue honing my public speaking talent. I turned to the internet and searched for great speeches I could emulate.
While doing the search, I stumbled on a website called "American Rhetoric" which had a collection of the most influential speeches of the 20th century. I listened to some of the speeches but the one that touched me most was John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address.
So much did the inaugural address touch me that I would listen to it over and over again. I admired the way Kennedy spoke maturely and articulately. It must be one of the reasons that made me consider pursuing a political career.
I was further motivated to get into politics after reading Bill Clinton's memoir and Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope. Both Clinton and Obama led me to believe that running for a political seat is easy with the way they described how they enjoyed campaigning.
Come 2013 when Kenya was to hold its first general elections since the promulgation of a new constitution, I registered to run for a county representative seat (now known as MCA seat). And alas! Campaigning for the seat didn't turn out to be easy for me.
There was a time, for instance, I approached an influential Maasai elder named Ole Murkuk. When I began telling him about my political ambition, he quickly dismissed what I was saying in a manner that indicated he didn't want to hear from me any more.
Probably discouraged by that experience, I didn't go around my home area canvassing for votes with the enthusiasm I had envisioned. That's unlike Obama who, as he narrated in The Audacity of Hope, kept on campaigning whether people were friendly, indifferent or hostile.
With time, I came to realize that I wasn't hardwired for a career in politics. My nature can't allow me to engage in the mockery and corruption that are often too much in evidence in the politics and governance of our nation.
It was my public speaking talent that lured me into thinking that I could succeed as a politician, making me waste the years I spent strategizing on how to get into politics. I even enrolled at the University of Nairobi to pursue a political science degree which I didn't finish due to financial constraints.
But I still possess a talent for public speaking. I plan to use it to inspire people to overcome their past, become better persons, believe in their dreams, connect with others and leave a legacy of love and kindness. So help me God.
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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on how I lost my way, you might also enjoy another one on "Imitation is Limitation" which I wrote a couple of years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.
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