As children, our parents would always tell us stories of things we did or things that happened to us when we were younger, some funny, some mischievous, some outrightly silly. Some of these stories might have shaped us and some help us understand our personalities, some of these stories just serve as reference points or jokes for family members when they come around.

I was told numerous of these kinds of stories. One of the stories I heard was that as a 2-year-old child about to start school, my parents were combing through schools in the area to see which would be a perfect fit. On getting to one of the schools that was top of their list (I was with them that day) there was a very huge dark statue of the founder of the school in the school’s compound and the statue frightened me and I started to cry uncontrollably. My parents left the school premises and my dad said - that if my daughter is going to cry like this every day because she is going to school, I don’t think this is the school for her. So they picked another school.

As a person, I have heard this story and I have seen that statue countless times. I am definitely not scared of the statue now (I am even surprised that it ever made me cry) and I wonder what would have happened if I continued schooling there and if I was the only child that didn’t attend that school because of that statue.

The 2-year-old and 21-year-old Ewere are really similar. While I was reflecting on these past 4 years. I was faced with another statue. It was more mental than physical and just like that two-year-old child about to enter a new phase of her life I am faced with things that look insurmountable, scare me, threaten me and make me want to turn or change my decisions and this time my parents can’t turn around for me. I have to face my statues myself.

The truth is everybody that graduated recently is like that 2-year-old Ewere in some form but with different statues and how we confront these statues shape us and form the stories that we will tell and the stories that will be told about us.

In dealing with whatever statues we might face in life I want us to remember 3 things:

“A lack of knowledge creates fear. Seeking knowledge creates courage.”— Candice Swanepoel

Fear is fuelled by the unknown; nobody is really scared of what they know. The only reason I don’t cry whenever I see a statue now is because I know that the statue can’t harm me or is not dangerous. The only way to conquer our fears is to grow in knowledge, capacity and truth.

I know that we have bagged a degree and for some of us this might be the last degree we might be getting maybe by choice or by circumstances but I urge you to not let it not be the end of our quest for knowledge because knowledge is one of the tools by which we conquer fear.

But in seeking knowledge let us not forget to seek the truth because the only thing worse than a lack of knowledge is false knowledge.

Sometimes you might not succeed, and people will definitely talk but don’t let it define you.

My dad deciding to take me away from that school really didn’t give me an opportunity to confront that statue so I can’t confidently tell you if I succeeded or failed at confronting that particular statue.

As I mentioned earlier, I heard that story a number of times but one thing I didn't do is let that one story define me as someone who is scared of statues. So I might have cried once because of a statue but I have passed so many statues without crying.

As we continue from here don’t be scared of failure or confronting your fears and if you do fail don’t be scared of what people will say and when people talk please don’t let it define you.