To be or not to be (encouraged)? By Brendan Conboy

Image of someone holding the word 'ENCOURAGE' made from Scrabble letters, by RachH from Pixabay 

"By words we learn thoughts, and by thoughts we learn life."

—Jean Baptiste Girard

"Colours fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure."
—Edward Thorndike

I supported thousands of young people during my 30 years as a youth worker. One such person was Linda. A teacher told her, in front of her peer group, that she would never amount to much. This one comment held her back, and two years after leaving school, I helped her to confront that teacher. After that, she never looked back.

My school years were not the best, and I often had teachers tell me things similar to Linda. I attended Marling Grammar School and recently joined the Old Marlingtonians Facebook group. This was my first post on the group page.

Dear Marling School, sorry I didn't amount to much at school and left in 1976 with few qualifications. I did, however, go on to complete an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering, run my own business, employ several people, become an awarded youth worker, set up a charity, learn an instrument, record and perform on stage and finally write and publish 16 books. I may not have achieved at school but getting kicked out inspired me to do better. I now share my story in the hope that it encourages others. 

I received an unexpected, tremendous response to this post. The most inspiring came from someone who became a Christian last Easter (2024) and is now reading my ‘Book of PSALMS in Rhyme’ during his morning walks. Wow! That comment lifted me so much – Words are powerful.

Some may know that I was a Christian rap artist for 25 years. Nearly 35 years ago, I recorded two albums. Friends listened to them, but never commented, either way. With my techie knowledge now, I was able to remaster and release one track (more on the way) to all major download sites. Though this song hasn’t had thousands of streams, people have commented positively about it. Their words lift me more than they realise.

 

Image of song cover

Listen to the song on Spotify here.

I am off now to visit a young friend who is currently a patient in a mental health facility. He has just started to write, after I encouraged him to do so. He has asked me for some tips and feedback. I feel so privileged to be able to do this.

How can you encourage others?

 

Image of Brendan in the early 90s

Brendan Conboy aka Half Man Half Poet is the author of 16 published books including two fascinating autobiographies, The Golden Thread and I'm Still VALUED.  In 1986, Brendan invited Jesus into his life and God blessed him with the gift of rhyming words.  He used that gift as a Christian Rap artist for 25 years and has written 6 poetry books including the entire Book of Psalms in Rhyme.  He has 3 published novels - Issues, Invasion of the Mimics and Legacy of the Mimics.  He is the creator of Book Blest