The Power of Manifestation: What I Learnt About Femi Dapson

I was talking to a friend the other day, and I said to him, "I'd rather have an arrogant child than have a timid and certainly not a subservient child." Now, of course, the goal is to have a well-balanced child that is neither timid nor arrogant.

But if I was forced to the extremes, I'd rather choose the arrogant one, because I think it's more important for a child to know that, like one of my favorite poems says, "You deserve to be here.

You're a child of the universe like the trees under stars." Many times, um, many African children are raised to learn how to survive if there is poverty.

Even the things we advise them, we say things like, "And be careful about those you meet on your way up because you might need them on your way down." See, I can't find it corrosive.

I think you should be careful.

You should be kind to the people you meet on your way up because kindness is important, period.

It shouldn't be because you are hoping to prepare the child for the child's way down.

You know, um, so we say all these little, little things that signal to children that they should be afraid of the world, that they should be afraid of ambition, that they should be afraid.

We, we make-- we, we use humility and, and humility the way I see it, and I think it's, uh, the guy that runs The Future page on YouTube.

Humility is about seeing yourself correctly for what you are, your strength and your weakness, your ups and your downs, your highs and your lows.

Humility is not lying to yourself that you are lower or worse than you are.

Humility, if you, if you're a great singer and somebody asks you, "Are you a great singer?" And you say, "I don't know," you lie.

That's not humility.

That is a lie.

And we seem to prepare-- When we talk about humility in African context, we're often in many African contexts, certainly in Nigerian context, sometimes in Kenyan context, sometimes in Ghanaian context, these cultures that I'm familiar with.

We tell the child to reduce themselves.

You know, if a child is confident, we want to cut the child down to size.