IS THERE SPACE AT THE TOP? -by Samuel Ufot Ekekere

I was woken quiet early one morning by the sound of a voice on a megaphone. The speaker, a preacher, was publicizing his special program tagged “space at the top.” While I disliked the disturbance of my sleep that came through the megaphone, the program’s tag got me thinking. Space at the top? How about that? The preacher assured that the top was for everyone and he was going to put his congregation through making a place for themselves at the top.

As a tinker, I have attended a good number of success seminars, read a couple of books and browsed the internet in pursuit of being at the top at what I do with the impression that there is always space at the top for me. But my experience on my way up has proven otherwise that there is actually no natural space up there for my ordinary ability however good it is. Those who have gone before me are up there and have taken all the spaces, so I’d have to displace them if I’m ever going to get to the top.

Seriously, we need an evolution of our mind from thinking the normal everyday way, to thinking off the norm. One certain knowledge we must carry with us is the fact that the top wasn’t made for everyone. The ground is. How high we go is a measure of how our capacity carries us and perhaps fate too. Our ability to leave the ground and be lifted into another level of life is determined by our creative capacity at creating an original path which no one has ventured into or doing what some person who has gotten acclaim has done in a more spectacular way. The belief that the top is empty is out of place. There can’t be a crowd at the top however good the competition is. Only one person leads. As long as the persons under him don’t pose a good challenge as to dislodge him, he remains there. There is nothing as one of the best, you are either best or next and down the pecking. As much as those who are at the lower cadre strive to get up the pecking order, those perceived to be high up the cadre strive to beat each other to the topmost position. The topmost person gets all the awards however well the next performs.

Is there space for you at the top? Maybe, and maybe not. Maybe, and that’s if you are already at the top. Off course, once you are up at the top, all you get is empty space for you to strive to cover. Maybe not, and that’s if someone has to move to have you move up. At this point, you will have to ensure the man up above you either moves up, you dislodge him or overtake him.

If everyone strives for the top and seek to get to the top equally, then everybody will remain at ground level. Life has a way of pushing some up and getting some down so that its cycle continues. There will be no cycle if we all get to the top equally. As much as everyone desires the top, life’s circumstance grants unequal opportunities such that we do not all get the same opportunity at the time we all want that opportunity.

Your desire to get higher is a good quality, but think of the many in your shoes who also want to reach the same height you are striving to attain. They all get high grades at school and better education, but this does not necessarily mean they’d get to the top immediately however hard they try. Opportunity to get up sometimes comes many years after one has qualified for it against immediate expectation. The road to the top requires sacrifice and most often, financial sacrifice. One has to buy education, skill and develop talent. Often though, as much as everyone may desire this top, they get encumbered by the cost of development they would have to undergo to be fit for the higher top position. So there again, money becomes another obstacle for the man that desires the top. The “top” eludes a large chunk of persons who do not meet with fate or have money to fund their top desire.

But does the top really elude us?  No. the top is relative. Everyone is at some point in their lives at the top. It is the heightened place where we consider ourselves to be and where we can make others see us as being.  Your top changes with the environment or the kind of persons you interact with.

Don’t feel depressed you aren’t the best or at the top. You are there already.

Samuel Ufot Ekekere is a writer from Uyo, Nigeria. As a teacher, motivator, and writer, he writes inspiring writs on personal development for all categories of persons. He believes everyone needs motivation. Connect on twitter @inyang21and www.facebook.com/ekekere, +2347062809301