Online Reporter
Youth focus with Dr Manners Msongelwa
LEBO was the kind of student everyone noticed. Loud, funny and always the centre of attention. At school, he made jokes during lessons, often skipped class and rarely handed in homework. Teachers warned him, but he laughed it off. “Life is short,” he would say. “Let me enjoy it now.”
He had a group of friends who shared the same attitude — no respect for rules, no interest in school and no regard for consequences. They spent most afternoons loitering around the neighbourhood, mocking those who studied or helped at home. Lebo had stopped listening to his parents long ago. “They are old-school,” he told himself.
On social media, he posted everything: rude jokes, photos of parties, videos of classmates being mocked — even private conversations he found funny. He didn’t think twice. Likes and laughs were all that mattered.
Years passed. Lebo left school with poor grades and no clear path. He tried applying for jobs but everywhere he went, doors stayed closed. Employers asked for qualifications, referrals, discipline — all things he had ignored. Some companies even found his old posts online and questioned his character. The jokes that once got him laughs now cost him opportunities.
Old friends moved on. Some changed, others got into trouble. Lebo felt stuck — haunted by the very choices he once celebrated. The teachers’ warnings echoed in his mind. The homework he never did, the rules he broke, the respect he never showed — all had come back, not in anger, but in silence. No one shouted at him now. Life just . . . moved on without him.
One day, he saw a post from an old classmate who used to sit quietly in the front row. She had graduated, started a small business and was now mentoring young people. Her caption read, “Your choices today shape your future. Choose wisely.”
It hit him hard.
Lebo couldn’t change the past but he could learn from it. Slowly, he started making different choices — taking part-time courses, repairing relationships and using social media to share encouragement instead of chaos.
The past might haunt you, yes. But it can also teach you — if you’re willing to listen.
Dr Manners Msongelwa is an author, teacher and youth coach. He can be contacted on +263 771 019 392
