The Slap That Changed My Life

“It takes twenty years of hard work to become an overnight success”. Well I think that true. I was a tall lean lad with a broken front tooth in my youth. No body cared about me .I used to wondered in the woodland near our house for hours with out any companion, alone on the path of unknown destiny, alone on a journey without destination.

I sat at the back bench in my class, avoiding the steers of my teacher. I used to put a hand on my mouth while laughing to cover the ugliness of my broken black tooth. For me life was a meaning less struggle without any productive output. Dawn defused into days and evenings converted into night in an endless circle.  

One day our teacher cracked a joke, every body was laughing, I was giggling too but covered my mouth to conceal my broken tooth. My teacher was watching this; he came near me and slapped me on my face. Everyone in the class was stunned, I froze with fear, I did not even knew my fault. Then he spoke “why you always cover your face when you laugh, what are you afraid of, your classmates, they all have a complex or another. Don’t be afraid of the people. Face the world head-on and it will give you the way … the way to success.

Now I am the editor in chief of three monthly magazines and Pakistan’s largest tender providing web site. When I was honored with national performance award for my contributions in tendering, I remembered the slap of me teacher and my eyes became moist. It was the slap that changed my destiny.