The poem that led me to Prof Ben Carson

Idolizing an author(s) is a way-paver for those who’d want to grow fonder of books — and build their cognitive abilities.

Football enthusiasts cry over Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, book lovers also adore their favourite authors. You would see Inusah Mohammed being a paralytic drunk over Robin Sharma. Manasseh Azure Awuni crushing on the literary prowess of Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi.

In November I bought my copy of ‘Gifted Hands’ while in a “trotro”, at Tema station, Accra, for only GH₵‎15. I was happy for three reasons: (1) finally getting to own the best-sold book I have heard and/or read several good reviews about, (2) the author’s (Prof Benjamin Solomon Carson) ingenuity in the medical profession, and (3) acquiring the original copy at a good price. (I’m the type that frowns at those who sell pirated books and price them exorbitantly.)

‘Gifted Hands’ is compendious, a pocket-sized book. I performed what I call the reading anatomy — turning the book back-to-back, sniffing it, flipping all the pages, and hastily reading the blurb, to grasp its elliptical conclusion.

Few passengers left for the car to set off so I opened the book and actively began reading. What looked like the preface was under the rubric: ‘A Letter From Sonya Carson’. I adjusted myself well-well. By the time I was done with the first page, I knew that I had come home — this is the genre of book I ought to be reading.

I shook myself in the seat again as if an ant had bitten me. A few times I smiled and giggled intermittently before finally halting the read, to goggle about ‘Sonya Carson’. Her picture popped up. And I read in toto an account of her biography on Wikipedia. She’s such a wonderful mother, heaven must be proud of her.

Seeing a single mother, married at the age of 13, later divorced and had to fend for her two sons (Benjamin and Curtis who were being difficult to be tamed) by shuttling from one menial job to the other, was resonating. I know what my auntie and mother went through, too, to keep our heads above water. Upon that I hugged the book, so to say, this is my bonafide property.

My late auntie would often wake us up at dawn or before we could go to bed at night and breathed into our soul's words of good morals and encouragement, adjuring us to be spirited and responsible. “. . .Take God and your classes seriously and thus your lives would be meaningful.”

Now here I am reading a powerful parenting module by Sonya Carson from a book. And hers (breathing into the souls of her children) was done in the late 50s long before we had had ours. “Many times, she said, “I found myself quoting a poem called ‘Yourself to Blame’ (by Mayme White Miller) to the boys that kept me going through those hard times. I often quoted one line in particular to them: “You’re the captain of your ship”:

If things go bad for you —

And make you a bit ashamed,

Often you will find out that

You have yourself to blame . . .

Swiftly we ran to mischief

And then the bad luck came,

Why do we fault others?

We have ourselves to blame . . .

Whatever happens to us,

Here are the words to say

“Hand it not been so-and-so

Things wouldn’t have gone that way.”

And if you’re short of friends,

I will tell you what to do—

Make an examination,

You will find that the fault is in you . . .

You’re the captain of your ship,

So agree with the same—

If you travel downward,

You have yourself to blame.

When I was done with all the pages by Sonya Carson, this captivating poem, in particular, captured my soul as its captive. It instantly became a part of my philosophy that I’ll have no one to blame for my mishap. Neither would I fish for compliments nor ingratiate people. I’m the captain of my ship, too!

Not less than four days did I complete the entire book. Ben Carson’s story (or books) has since become an oxygen keeping my aspirations alive. His upbringing in the inner-city looks like what some of us went through.

He’s an author and a change agent worth idolizing. His writing reshapes the mind — it tells readers there’s a big picture out there — and that we were created equal so we should all think big. An author who prioritises God before anything. Though he does amazing surgeries, he had always posited that it’s by God’s wisdom.

The poem, ‘Yourself to Blame’ remains my favourite throughout last year. When I grow I’d want to be like him — Prof Ben Carson.