(ThyBlackMan.com) I am a victim of praise! Throughout my life there have been individuals, groups and institutions that have given me support and encouragement that far surpassed my personal belief in my own ability to succeed. They raised the bar for me and cheered me until I was able to soar.
Earlier this week, I was involved in a conversation and someone mentioned that there are young people who never hear an encouraging word and do not have persons in their lives who mentor or support them in their work. These individuals the speaker said would have a different life result if only someone would take notice of their work and applaud them. I knew this to be true.
In the fifth grade I was assigned a report today for my science class. It was to be an oral report dealing with astronomy. I decided to do my report on the discovery of Pluto by the astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. In preparation for the task, I secluded myself in my grandparents bedroom where the set of Funk & Wagnall’s Encyclopedias they had purchase for me was housed. When the day for my report came I could hardly contain 
myself. My mother as she had always done made a nice breakfast for me, I put on my favorite red vest and with the report under my arm marched 3 blocks up West Avenue to Hamilton Elementary School.
I was already considered by my family, friends and teachers to be an excellent student filled with promise. My closest friends at the time, Marty Costes, Bruce Halliburton, James Horton, Tommy Smallwood, and Houston Young, were all very gifted and we competed against each other in everything. It was not enough for us to excel on the playground (and in Little League Baseball during the summer) we wanted to be the stars of the classroom as well. We popularized the notion of being a student/athlete in the image of one of our childhood heroes, Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin of Ohio State University.
At the end of each grading period we would meet on the Battle Field (playground) the sight of our athletic conquests to compare our report cards to see which one of us could claim the title of being the best (male) student at Hamilton. We would go over the marks in each subject. We knew if someone had received a “c” because they would not dare show up. There would always be two or three of us who had straight “A’s” and it would come down to the tie-break (my secret weapon) the number days tardy or absent. My mom had always wondered why I would always insist on going to school, come rain or shine, in sickness and in health, it was so that I would have the upper-hand for during the playground showdown.
Those showdowns produced two engineers, a medical doctor, an economist and a Baptist minister, but it was the moment after I had given my science report that will forever have residency in my heart and mind. After I had presented my report and collected my papers in preparation for the return to my assigned seat something spectacular happened. My friend Houston stood up and began to clap and as he remained on his feet others joined him. My monetary embarrassment was replaced with pride and joy. What I am able to recall now is running to my grandparents house after school and telling my grandmother. A young black boy had not scored the winning run, point or touchdown but had given a science report and other black children had not teased him or called him white but had praised and applauded him. That moment had been intoxicating and created within me a thirst for more. That moment of praise was a life changer! It gave meaning to the praise that I had received from my family and in church.
Years later, I would find another environment that praised academic excellence and achievement, the all-male and predominately black campus of Morehouse College. Miles away from family and my elementary school classmates I formed new competitive, yet supportive friendships. It was there that a classmate, Bill Crawley, told me that I was a good writer. It was there that Joette Harland (Kupenda Auset),a classmate from my sister school Spelman College, told me I was a good speaker. It was there that a professor, Marcellus Chandler DeLeon Barksdale, told me that one day I could quite possibly be president of my famed alma mater.
I have never considered myself to be a success, because I have extremely high expectations for myself, but I know that I am not a failure. I also know that difference between me and many others is that throughout my entire life I have been a victim of praise. There is power in praise. Too many young boys and girls are told what they are not and never told what they are or what they may become. I thank God for all those who have crossed my path and showered me with wonderful words of encouragement. I now going around looking for others to victimize. I point them to the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 139 which states “I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully and that my soul knows quite well.” I tell them that they are filled with unlimited potential and endless possibilities. I know firsthand the power of praise.
Written By Thomas Bowen
Official website; http://twitter.com/thombowen
