When Dr Myles Munroe was fourteen years old, he had a white teacher (Mr. Robinson) from Scotland who talked them (the black students) down. The man told him that he was a half breed monkey, would never learn, stupid, black, a nigger, retarded, uneducable. Since he was an “F” student in the class at the time, he thought the man was right. He cried home to his mum and told her all that had transpired at school. She told him never to repeat the words the teacher spoke again. Then she gave him a book she called the bible, opened up a particular page and asked him to memorize a statement. The statement was:
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,” (Eph 3:20).
His life at school turned around in three months as he became a “B” student and in six months an “A” student. The following year, he finished top of the school and became the number one student of the school by the time he graduated his high school.
When he graduated, they gave him a plaque as the most improved student in the school. He took the plaque to Mr. Robinson (the teacher that talked him down) and said “this is for you from a monkey”
A few years after that, he went to college and got three bachelor’s degrees in four years, a master’s degree in eighteen months and five doctorate degrees bestowed upon him by five universities – The same man who had been told he was a monkey, retarded and uneducable!
One day, he went to downtown London to facilitate a leadership training course where he spoke on leadership. At the end of the session, he was sitting in the lobby of the hotel and there was a long line of people as he was autographing his books for them. Then this old white man with a cane walked up to him trembling. He put two of his books on the table. As he looked at the books he saw that one of them was looking very greasy and dirty and marked all over. Dr. Myles Munroe looked at him and said “sir, I like to see my books like this. It means the person read it. Thank you so much for reading the book”
Then the man responded saying “this book changed my life” Dr. Munroe said “sir that means so much to me as an author” and went ahead to autograph the book for him alongside the new one he had just bought. He thanked him and shook his hands but the man stood there.
Dr. Munroe said “sir, there is a line behind you, why don’t you allow others to come” but the man stood there still without saying a word. He said “sir, I appreciate you for coming to the seminar, thank you for coming today. Please allow others behind you to come forward” The old man still didn’t move or say a word. Then Dr. Munroe asked him if something was the matter.
That was when the man said “I used to live in the Bahamas”
Dr Munroe said “really? Where”
Old man: “in Nassau, the capital”
Dr. Munroe: “What did you do when you were there?”
Old man: “I was a teacher”
Dr. Munroe: “where did you teach”
The man named the same school where Dr. Munroe attended as a high school student!
Dr. Munroe: “sir that was my school!”
Old man: “Yes I taught there. You don’t remember me, do you?”
Dr. Munroe: “no sir”
Old man: “I am Mr. Robinson”
Dr. Munroe: “you are Mr. Robinson?”
And suddenly, he realized that this old man was the teacher who called him a half breed, nigger, monkey, retarded, uneducable.
Dr. Munroe jumped up from his seat, ran around, grabbed him and hugged him. He wept on Dr. Munroe’s shoulders and Dr. Munroe wept on his while all the people around were watching and wondering. They were confused that this black man and this white man were hugging and kissing each other on the cheeks as they cried. While they were hugging each other, the old man kept telling him “I am sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry” Then Dr. Munroe said “Mr. Robinson, you mean you read a book written by a monkey and a half bred nigger. You mean a monkey changed your life!” And they both laughed over it. Then he told Mr. Robinson, “Don’t you ever again underestimate a human” Today, Dr. Myles books are text books in the same school where he was called a monkey!
I am not sure where you are in your life today or what names they may have called you. The truth is that the name people call you does not matter as much as the name you call yourself. Like Dr. Myles Munroe, you must recognize that God in His infinite wisdom has put the power to bring forth your dreams, hopes, aspirations and imaginations in you and not in the people or system looking down on you. So it’s not about what they think of you now. It’s about what you think of yourself.
0 Comments