Every morning while in New York I had to walk past the mayor's lovely villa, to get to the riverfront in Manhattan to do my morning walk, and today, as I read about young Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York’s mayoral elections, I felt a thrill ripple through me. Thirty-two years old, son of immigrants, Muslim, and yet none of that mattered in the end. What mattered was his ability, his eloquence, his energy, and his ideas. He did not ask for sympathy or support based on identity. He simply stood up, spoke his truth with passion, and won.
It reminded me of another man who once walked into the world’s most powerful political office. Barack Obama. His name was unfamiliar, his skin colour different, and his ancestry foreign to the land he would lead. Yet when he spoke, people listened. They did not hear a black man; they heard a leader. They did not see his race; they saw his reason. He rose not on the crutches of privilege or reservation, but on the wings of merit and the conviction that he could.
And that, dear readers, is what I wish our young people would learn. The world does not bow to those who demand pity or preference. It listens to those who earn respect through confidence, clarity, and competence. You may not be born into privilege, but if you can speak with passion and think with purpose, you already possess the tools to win.
We, as a people, must learn to celebrate that. Somewhere along the way, we have started to depend too much on labels. We say we deserve something because of who we are, where we come from, or what category we belong to. But do we realise how much joy there is in winning without any crutch? How much thrill there is in knowing that you succeeded because you were the best?
Look at those who have reached the top through their talent. They walk straighter, not with arrogance but with assurance. They know they earned every bit of their success. They don’t whisper, “I got it because of my background,” but proudly say, “I got it because I worked for it.”
To all the young people reading this, even to those who have grown older but still dream, remember this: confidence in yourself is more powerful than any certificate that says you deserve special treatment. When you believe in your own worth, others begin to believe in it too.
So, stop waiting for someone to open the door for you. Build the key yourself. Speak, study, work, and persist till your skill becomes impossible to ignore. And when that happens, the world will not see your religion, your age, your colour, or your community. It will only see your merit.
Win through merit, and watch how sweet victory tastes when it is wholly yours…!
The Author conducts an online, eight session Writers and Speakers Course. If you’d like to join, do send a thumbs-up to WhatsApp number 9892572883 or send a message to bobsbanter@gmail.com
