"Obstacles are placed in our path not to be boggled at but to be surmounted"
...sounds inspiring, doesn't it? Do you'll know who said that? Adolf Hitler...yes, the same Adolf Hitler, who would today be unanimously voted as the worst villain of the last century, the man responsible for the start of a World War, and the man single handedly responsible for the murder of millions and millions of Jews.
Adolf Hitler, Hansie Cronje, Mohammed Azharudin, Michael Jackson, and maybe to a certain extent Boris Becker and Bill Clinton...today we discuss these personalities with regards to our mentalities towards them. All of them are today ridiculed, disrespected, hated, and even loathed, because of some act, or misgiving on their part.
We, as a people, tend to be too critical, too hateful, and too judgemental of others, especially of personalities who have been in the public eye. How many of us even know what it takes to reach the top, and be at the top? These people have done that...and been there.
I was earlier mentioning Hitler. Now he was a tremendous orator, perhaps the best of his generation, who inspired and motivated his people to no end. Under his leadership, the complex coding system developed for relaying messages during the war was so foolproof that the only way the Allies could mange to breach the codes was buying over German officers, and learning it. The missile and submarine technology of the Germans was far more advanced than that of the Allies. Hitler has been held responsible for the murder of millions and millions of Jews...how many of us speak of America in the same breadth and hold them responsible for the murder of millions and millions of Japanese? Not many, I'm sure.
Lets talk about Cronje...how do we remember him as? A greedy person, someone crazy about, and obsessed with money?, one who brought disrepute to his sport - cricket, disrepute to his country - South Africa, and disrepute to his family.
Do we talk of him as one of the greatest South African captains ever, the greatest one day captain of his era, a great team player, and a great motivator of people? Ditto for Azhar...how many of us know that to date, he remains the only batsman in the history of this over 125 year old game to score 3 consecutive centuries in his first 3 test matches?
Michael Jackson now....What do we call him and think of him? We ridicule him, hate him, call him a sexual pervert, a paedophile? Mind you, none of this was proven in the court of law.
This man, has written 80 % of his songs, and has composed music for almost all of his albums. His second solo album Thriller is the largest selling album of all time in the world. He remains the most awarded music artist of all time. But, who remembers all that?
I am not trying to defend or justify their actions, nor am I saying that what they did was right. But don't remember them by that one act, misconduct, or blot.
Don't look at only the black, also consider the white,
Don't rob them of their achievements,
Don't deny them their rightful place in history,
Don't deny them their footprints in the sands of time.
