Play today and pay tomorrow?
By Yoseph S. Ayele

Many of us don't really remember much what we did before we started kindergarten because we spent so many years in what is called 'education'. A Preparatory 2 student would have spent more than 12 years in a classroom. When we are given a chance to get out of there, all we want to do is relax. We sleep a lot, watch TV, and do nothing! A great break! Really?
Well, the last time I did that, my father called me and told me something that I can still remember. He didn't tell me to reduce my TV watching time from 11 hours a day down to 5 hours a day. He was quite relaxed about my excessive TV watching habits, and he told me the rules of life. He said, "Yoseph, you can either decide to play today and pay tomorrow, or pay today and play tomorrow. A price has to be paid, and there must be a time when you have to play. You choose when." I was quite young when he told me this, and I took it as 'one of those parent lectures.' But later on, it hit me quite hard when I saw people living off small salaries and trying to get certificates at the age of 35. It is not to say that these people played when they were young and now they are paying for it, because I do not know about their past. But one thing I knew is that I did not want to be struggling to make a life at that age. I felt I could avoid that trap, and so can you.
We want to be happy today, and we want to have a good life. We don't want to be poor, we don't want to be doing boring jobs, and we don't want to struggle. This requires some sacrifice. It is quite hard to achieve all of that without sacrificing something today. Many people want to be successful, but they try to avoid the steep hill on the way to success, all the work that is required for it. Life teaches us that good things don't come easy, and very good things are require very hard work. There is a price for it. Are we willing to pay for it?
Hard work pays. In one way or another, we get the fruit of our labor. Some fruits might not be gotten today and require patience. Those are the ones that pay most. So, the question is, are we willing to work hard for something that we will benefit from in many years to come? It is not easy, especially sacrificing the fun and luxuries of today, especially for a benefit we don't have assurances for. Everyone I asked and who paid first to play later said that every sweat was worth it, and it paid off.
You might be wondering what the price is today. Well, academic success is measured in terms of grades, so the target is simple, and I am going to sound like your parents now, but get the As and Bs in your Matric and the high marks in Pre-College. During every holiday you have, sitting at home doing nothing doesn't help at all. The number of students in Ethiopia who do nothing during holidays is alarming. I have been able to gain so much from volunteering and getting work experience, and I am very much convinced that you can benefit from it as well. From the experience I have had, Capital even allows me to write for them! Even more, the work and volunteering I have been doing helped me to get scholarships. Staying idle only helps to slow down your brain, and at the end of it, there is practically nothing you will remember from it. A big success starts from a series of small successes. It is your turn to start working on the small ones, so as to build them one and make you a big success story. Play today and pay tomorrow, or pay today and play tomorrow.