Post Date December, 03 2023
Naphet is from Zimbabwe, one of the most chaotic countries in the world (perhaps none). He didn't talk about his childhood, but I knew it wasn't something I could compare to. After coming out of his hometown, he successfully applied for a PhD in our school and obtained British citizenship. The effort in the middle is really beyond my imagination. I still deeply remember the day he went to participate in his doctoral thesis defense, holding a 300 page thick doctoral thesis, as if holding a baby. His thesis is quantitative, and the main tool is the spss program. I once asked him where he learned spss, and he told me that he learned it by himself online. During his three years of blogging, he started learning spss from 0 by watching online videos on YouTube. Nowadays, his papers are filled with various exquisite formulas, while my papers are so pale and powerless by comparison. However, his thesis still failed to pass the defense because a new female teacher from our school questioned his method. He was very angry because he did not understand why his school teacher did not support him. However, he did not lose heart and continued to come to the research room every morning and night to revise his thesis.
He is a single father of two children. My daughter has already entered high school, and my son is only a few months old. During the day, he had to drive a taxi to the railway station to subsidize his tuition and household expenses, and the money he earned had to be sent back to his hometown in Zimbabwe. Therefore, you can only come to study in the evening. He never goes home on weekends and sleeps in a taxi to earn more money. Once he sat down, he would remain motionless and concentrate on his work. I sometimes wonder where he comes from with his energy, being able to work while studying, and being so focused. Every midnight, I leave the research room while he is still sitting in front of the computer screen, concentrating on adjusting the parameters of his formula.
Naphet's daughter is very outstanding, and she came to him when she was 6 years old. He proudly shared with me her daughter's winning speech in the BBC Speech Contest and told me that she was a member of the British Youth Council, a parish leader, and a leader of the School Youth Association. "Her life is very disciplined, more disciplined than mine, and I've never seen a 17 year old child live like her," he told me. In the speech that his daughter attended at the age of 15, she called English a killer and analyzed the language difficulties faced by foreign immigrants in the English language environment. "I didn't write a word for her, it was all written by her. I used this video in my course, Sociological Imagination, which is a topic that can be used as a doctoral thesis." Naphet said proudly to me. I am really shocked that a 15 year old girl can have such sensitivity to the environment. "I reminded Naphet not to make her too proud, and he said to me, 'I never praise her, I just tell her the challenges she needs to face. She can complete every challenge.'"
He once shared with me his experience of failing to apply for a job because he was too excellent. During his three years as a doctor, he obtained five teacher qualifications, which were even better than his interviewers. As a result, it is conceivable that his carefully prepared speech actually harmed him, which is quite absurd. "But he wasn't discouraged. He said to me, 'What I need to do now is graduate as soon as possible, so that I have more freedom to seek better opportunities.' His rich teaching experience far exceeds that of his peers, and even his interviewers can only say jealously, 'You're really moving too fast.'" I asked him about the citation of his paper, but he turned to me for advice on the citation software I use. ", After my introduction, he took out his notebook and carefully recorded, "This software is very good, and I will also let my daughter try it in the future. I am now preparing for everything she needs to face in college." At that moment, I really felt why people say that opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared. What kind of people are excellent? It is not surprising that such a father has such a daughter, who is self-reliant, self-disciplined, modest, modest, and always confident.
People living overseas have a small social circle, so they have a greater impact on me. For the first time, I seriously considered what a responsible man is. "He has no money, so he goes out to work. He has no knowledge, so he studies on the internet by himself.". He faced all injustice with a confident smile. "He said to me, 'I want to complete my PhD as soon as possible and prove to my daughter that I can do all this.'" Yes, he must be able to, and I have no doubt about it. ".
Looking back at myself, putting Buddha on every point would be squeezed into a big "small" character, and I don't even have the courage to compare. "I can't guess how much bitterness and grievance lie behind his rock like smile, but what I see is that he comes to the research room on time every day like a clock, sits down, studies, and creates a future that belongs to him and his daughter.".
"To my mother and my four brothers, to my deceased father and five uncles," he wrote in the thank you section of his paper
"I haven't seen my mother in years," he said as he watched me read the thank you note.
"How did you get through all this?" I asked.
"Stress. Life presses you, and you only have to move forward. Everything I have achieved depends on my own hands."
He was the only one of their five brothers who came out.
Many times, people like Naphet cannot learn, but I think he may be an answer in himself. When we fall into confusion and cowardice, when we desperately make excuses for our lives, he brings a voice:
By myself, I can!
