A Teacher’s Lesson

Equipping girls and boys for leadership in South Sudan requires more than the academic lessons in English, math, history, literature, and sciences in the classroom. It requires teaching the young people of South Sudan how to be thoughtful, peaceful and self-aware.  

One of the ways Charles Kule Mitsaghar, a teacher at Hope & Resurrection School, promotes self-development for future leaders is through storytelling. Here is one of the stories he uses to illustrate his point:

"The Cockroach Theory for Self-Development"

At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear.  With a panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.  The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away, but it landed on another lady in the group. Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama. The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.  In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.  The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt.  When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

Was the cockroach responsible for the histrionic behavior of the ladies? 

• If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?  He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.

• If it’s not the cockroach, but the inability of those people to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies, then how do you think about this is your own life?
• It is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it's my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.
• It's not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.
• More than the problem, it's my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.

Lessons from the story:

• I understood I should not react in life; I should always respond. The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.
• Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of.
•  A beautiful way to understand life - A Person who is happy is happy not because everything is right in his/her life. He/she is happy because his/her attitude towards everything in his/her life is right!