Prove it yourself, go to a place with rocks and take a look at a tree under a rock. You would find that that tree is a member of trees with disabilities. The same thing happens to human beings. We do not grow under rocks, but when people who are obliged to bring us up suppress us, then it is as if we are growing under rocks.
Even if you are a biological son of the late Manute Bol, expected to override Manute himself or attain the same height, you can never make it if your guardian is a rock. You will either grow up with a big hump like a camel or you be creeping on the surface like a stemless tree. It is not easy growing under a rock. You will lose your characteristic features, making you have a very great difference with someone growing up in an open area.
You will have yellow leaves, which, in this case, will be yellow thoughts and you will also have no access to photosynthesis, which, in this case, will be exposure to meet with people to illuminate your ideas. Because of suppression, you will have fewer branches, which, in this case, corresponds to your network with people and you will also have an impaired pollination as pollens won’t be able to land on the target, which, in this case, corresponds to your production.
Your roots will not fix firmly in the soil as part of the same rock suppressing you from above may also be suppressing you from below. During the shedding period, a tree under a rock remains with old leaves instead of shedding to grow new leaves, which, in this case, corresponds to a point where your guardian prevents you from refining your attitude and behavioural patterns to become a transformed person. At the end of the day, you will be counted as one of the dwarf people, but in actual sense, you were dwarfed by a rock.
It is unfortunate that many young people are growing under rocks. A young entrepreneur does not attain his full height in entrepreneurship because one, two, or three entrepreneurs, expected to mentor him, are rocks and do not allow any other person to grow up as an entrepreneur. A young artiste does not attain his full height in the music industry because one or more musicians, expected to mould him, are rocks and do not want other musicians to grow taller.
A young player of football or basketball fails to thrive because one, two three experienced players, expected to coach become a star, are rocks and do want another player to make a name like them. A young writer suffocates to death because one or more celebrated writers have ganged up and blocked his growth because they do not want any upcoming writer to have a visible height. A young politician is the worst of all because if successful politicians fail to make him one of the pygmies, they will never fail to assassinate him.
So, why would people feel jealous of someone’s growth? It is obvious that people do not have the same height worldwide. If your brother is blessed with an exceptional height, it is wise to allow him to grow. If this height makes him become a star, let him become a star. Do not be a blackspot in his history. I see no point of suppressing one another.
The author is a medical student, University of Juba.