At the Excellence in Leadership Conference organised by Daystar Christian Centre, one of the speakers, Kolawole Oyeneyin made a profound statement.

BEWARE OF GENERALS WITHOUT SCARS!

I was discussing this statement with a friend and she told me a story. While she was doing an internship programme at a military base, there was an instructor who was quite wealthy and had a ‘buttered’ look. He pampered the interns with regular treats and gave them money sometimes.

During one of their classroom sessions, he was talking about the effects of war and a lady in a sneering voice asked, ’Sir, what do you know about war? Have you ever been on a battlefield before?’ As far as she was concerned, the man looked too ‘pampered’ to have suffered.

The military instructor smiled as he removed his shirt. A hush fell on all present as they saw hideous scars crisscrossing his whole body. They were obviously staring at relics of war. The ‘sneering lady’ hid her face in shame as she realised that his pampered looks HID A BATTERED BODY.

He had SCARS UNDER HIS RICH CLOTHES.

From that day, when he spoke about war, the effects of violence and the challenges of daily living, they listened. For they knew HE SPOKE FROM A PLACE OF EXPERIENCE.

Have you met a general without scars? But who has so many stars on his uniform? What lessons can he tell his avid listeners when he has not passed through the rigours of pain?

Can a woman who has not gone through the travails of childbirth adequately describe the pain?

In my article titled, WHERE THE SHOE PINCHES, I stated that no one can understand the pains that another bears until that person has walked in the same shoes. Onlookers are often sympathisers.

Whenever I speak about an experience I have gone through or when I write about one, I do it so passionately that people do not need to be told that I have passed through that path.

A general without scars but who has stars is just like someone who gets an honorary degree from a university. You cannot compare that with the feat of one who reads for that same degree for years and probably graduates with a first class.

There is a WORLD OF DIFFERENCE in the experiences they will share.

I am proud of the scars I carry for they have shaped my perspectives. They have taught me lessons about life and given me nuggets to share with the generation I have been sent to nurture. I do not want to glory only in the stars I have gathered.

I want to celebrate the scars that crisscross my body and my heart, for like gold that emerges from a fiery furnace, I have come out shiny, precious and ready to face a beautiful sunset.

Do you have scars?