Lovers of Reggae music the world over danced to Bob Marley’s hit track “Survival”.

In the song, Bob Marley talked about how “some people had ways and means, while the rest had “hopes and dreams”. How “some people got everything and some people got nothing.”

There is no denying the fact that everybody has 24 hours a day and seven days a week. But the reality is that some people were born, literally put in the elevator and without any effort of theirs, catapulted to the top, while others were born and left to claw and scratch the earth before they could make headway in life. While the former have opportunities upon opportunities being thrown on their laps to use to excel, the latter, that is you and me, whatever opportunities we ever had were created by us. Nothing ever comes easy. That is why struggle has become the exact definition of people’s existence.

A malnourished child and a well-nourished child, though both have the same 24 hours in a day and seven days in a week; but the fact is that they don’t have the same start because there are differences in their life contents. I said a moment ago that malnutrition affects brain development and you cannot compare somebody with a defective brain and another with a well-developed brain. There would be lots of differences both in their inputs and outputs. Any wonder why the rich keep on getting richer and the poor poorer? It is a matter of the differences in their inputs.

A student that is buying handouts and another that is photocopying handouts, though they may be in the same class, but the reality is that they don’t have the same content. A man that is living at Ajegunle, a Lagos suburb and another that is living in Banana Island, a Lagos highbrow area, though they are both living in the same Lagos, they don’t have the same content. Don’t forget that our environment to a large extent shapes who we would turn out to be in life. A man that is bubbling with self-confidence, that goes about with the feeling of “I’m the man around here “because of his background and another man that is being plagued by low self-esteem because of his own background don’t have the same content.

Let me give a classical example of what I mean.

“Have you heard of Christopher Michael Langan?” I bet you haven`t. The names don’t strike any note in your brain.

“What about Albert Einstein?”

“Who hasn’t?” I know that would be your answer.

Now, let me do a bit of a recap. Albert Einstein developed the theory of relativity, which is one of the two pillars of modern science. He was also known for his influence on the philosophy of science. Einstein had a very high IQ, 150 to be precise and because of that was noted as one of the brightest and the best in the world. He was so popular that when he died in 1955, his brain was preserved.

But check this out! Christopher Michael Langan had far more IQ than Einstein. In fact, while Einstein was celebrated for having 150, Langan had between 190-210, however, he died unsung or relatively anonymous.

Now, you may be wondering What Went Down (WWD)?

This is it-While Einstein was raised by a rich German family and as such attended very good schools, Langan clawed and scratched the earth to survive. He suffered abject poverty and unstable home. Story had it that while he was growing up, he did not know where or when the next meal would come. He owned only the clothes on his back. His wicked step father beat him for eight years. As a means of surviving, he took several labour-intensive jobs for some time, and by his mid-40s had been a construction worker, cowboy, forest service ranger and farm hand. He was also a bouncer for 20 long years.

It was later that he developed the Cognitive Theoretic Module of the Universe (CTMU), which sneaked his name into the history books.

According to Sawdechet Sankey, UNICEF Education Specialist; the kind of environment a child grows in or is nurtured in would to a large extent affect the quality of his or her brain and development in life irrespective of the intellectual capacity of his or her parents.”

So, the difference between Einstein and Langan was therefore, the environment they grew up in. Even though Langan had far higher IQ than Einstein, his environment and how he was nurtured held him back, so he could not go far in life.

Einstein on the other hand came from a rich family, so he had opportunities upon opportunities thrown on his laps and he shown like a billion stars.

This is still a fact in today`s world, the more reason why the worst of us would continue to rule the best of us because it is not what we know that matters, but rather who we know.

However, what is not in doubt is that nobody was born empty. By this I mean that there is nobody that came to the world without a purpose and no matter our back ground, once we are determined, focused and persistent, we would achieve the purpose of our creation.

We can always use Michael Langan as a source of inspiration. Though he was one of those that creation was rigged to his disadvantage, he still managed to put his name in the history books with his invention, notwithstanding that it came at old age.

•Culled from the book, LOOK FORWARD AND LEAN LESS ON YOUR PAST available on Amazon, Kindle and Okada Books.

ABOUT THE COLUMNIST

Peter Anosike is a well-known journalist and development economist.

His book, Dangote’s Ten Commandments on Money (Lessons on How to Make Money from One of the World’s Richest Men), was rated as one of the best development books in the world by Wall Street Journal and FORBES. The book has been adopted as a workbook for grooming entrepreneurs by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN). Anosike’s other of his books include, How To Be The Best You Can Be and Look Forward and Lean Less On Your Past – all trending in Smashwords along with Dangote’s Ten Commandment on Money and How To Be The Best You Can Be. You can follow him on Facebook and Linkedin.

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