A Book that Changed my Life

My best friend and I were arguing about my habit of reading books. He doesn't like the kind of books I read, “Why do you read self-help and philosophical books? What do you get out of such books except confusions?”

I remembered what my professor used to say whenever he stars his class, “ OK folks! Let’s get confused.” According to my professor confusion is the road to clarity. Confusion is an integral part of life; life would be meaningless if there are no secrets to unfold, confusions to clarify...

I wanted to continue more but I figured I would end up confusing him further. For he hates confusion and complicating life, he doesn't even like an in-depth thought of things. “Things are what they are; what I see is what I want to believe I don’t want to dig deep and complicate my life.” Such is his common argument.

He asked me a simple yet rousing question, “Can you mention a single book that really changed your life?”

Of course! There are books that certainly changed my life. But here is particularly one for my friend’s satisfaction:

How to stop worrying and start living by Dale Carnegie, I read it when I was in one of the public Universities in Ethiopia. I was studding Applied Physics at the university, not by choice but because I was assigned to. That is how the education system works here. Most of the students are randomly assigned to study fields that are not according their choice. The ministry of education randomly assigns you or shall I say chooses for you the kind of field you should study.

Accordingly, I was assigned to study Physics; honestly speaking it was a subject I really hate. And hence, I tried to convince my families to go to a private university so I can study the choice of my field but they insisted I should try it and if not return. So I went to try it.

As I took few of the major classes I figured physics was not my thing and I was not a physics material; but I decided to carry on and just graduate even if I didn't liked the field.

My passion was reading not numbers. It was subjective analysis, not objective inquiry. So I carried on my hobby in the meantime. I go to the library to read philosophy books and some of my favorite author’s fictions.  

In one blessed day I went to the library and as if I was destined to, I randomly picked up the book I mentioned above. I started reading it and couldn't take my eyes of. The book got in to me. I was reading it line by line, word by word.

As I went further on the book, I read the following phrases that took my attention …if you want to be happy and successful with your life then here is my advice, for every activity in your life there are only two choices you should make. ‘Accept it’ or ‘change it’ do you like your job? Do you like the way you look, do you like your environment, do you like… if your answer is YES then accept it and be good at it and if your answer is NO then change it! These are the only two options in the game of life. To the contrary, most of us use a third option ‘complain’ we never accept or change our life but we simply complain. My friend let me tell you one thing, stop complaining and start being happy, ‘Accept it’ or ‘Change it’…

After reading the above phrases I asked myself ‘do I like my field of study, do I like physics?’ big NO! And at that moment I decided to ‘change it.’ I told my father that I decided to study a field of my interest in a private college and got him convinced to pay for the tuition. I also promised him I that I will win the trophy for an academic excellence and give it to him.  For I was too confident about my decision my dad couldn't refuse. He did as I requested. And I did as I promised. I scored all ‘A’s in all the courses I took and gave him the trophy I have been awarded for an ‘Academic excellence and leadership quality’.

My best friend knows the entire story except for the part that I decided to quit university because of a book. He couldn't argue more; he shook his head with amazement and said, “Now! This is a story to be told.’’