"Just erase and draw again"

I was inspired by a 9 year old boy to draw, I was only 5 years old then. Over the years, I have come to know that there is more to drawing than what we literally see.

When I was 5 years old, I saw an older boy drawing. I'm sure he was about 9 years old. He was drawing a man. It was the first time I had seen such a nice drawing, nicer than the ones my nursery teacher drew on the blackboard. I couldn't draw like that, the best I could do was to trace.

So, I asked him to teach me. In response he told me to get a book, take a pencil and start drawing. I wasn't discouraged by his response, I was very glad. ”Mennsɔ wonsa o, hwɛ me na draw. Sɛ woti a, na w'apepa, na w’adraw biom” (I will not guide you by holding your hands, observe what I do and learn. When you make a mistake, just erase and draw again) — he told me. I started drawing objects from then. By age 6, I could draw any image in my story books — any image I set my heart to draw.

Eventually, drawing turned out to be my hobby. I could draw anything I decided to, and it seems like I never learnt how to. Well, I could call it talent but since I never worked on improving on it, it kept fading away. I wasn't practicing.

Later, I found friends who inspired and challenged me to draw again. Every drawing starts with a dot. There's no shortcut to drawing a perfect picture. Every detail counts. It's either you decide to erase the errors you make and redo, hoping to achieve the right thing or you ignore and move on with the errors. Both decisions can externally affect your drawing, but internally they affect you.

This is how life ought to be seen. We are drawing our internal man. The little things you engage in form who you really are. You can undo every error by going through the right process or you can ignore. Nobody may really see, but the details can never be concealed once we take a closer look within. I'm not a perfect artist, but I look forward to drawing a perfect line each day; and to willingly erase the imperfections, drawing over and over until my line looks right!

Simply put, I would say that all are destined to be good within and without, but only few choose to be. Desire, act, learn, overcome, unlearn, push forward, become better, repeat the entire process. You can work for the common good. You can do something good. I invite you to join me, who wants to draw?

A gift for my husband. "I can not draw you perfectly, only God can, yet I will not give up trying because I know that is how God will show me the way to draw you."