“Know the people in your life that are willing to put their neck on the line for you. Not just with their words, but their actions. Keep them close to you because they are your true friends” – Sabri Claasen

There is a powerful motivational video clip doing the rounds on Facebook under this search: “Know the people in your life that are willing to put their neck on the line for you.  Not just with their words, but their actions.  Keep them close to you because they are your true friends.”  It is a clip about a Lion who gets attacked by 20 hyenas.  And then the unexpected happens…. a younger lion shows up! And comes to his rescue. Very powerful message and as I sat down to write this Blog, I immediately thought how that reminded me of this young man i.e. SABRI CLAASEN.

He was dressed in a blue jeans and navy tracksuit top; his hair neatly trimmed.  He was obviously on his guard as could be told by the way he sat with his arms crossed over his chest.  I don’t think that he likes surprises and the fact that he didn’t know what he would be asked during the interview, lent itself to his cautious demeanor. (Truth be told he was waiting on us to pick him up for the interview and had we known, we would have done so earlier as he worked a night shift at his current firm.  But such was his dedication to keep his word that he waited patiently for us to come and get to him.) 

When asked what it is that he would do in a scenario where, should a calamity befall us here in Mitchell’s Plain and he had to get out – what would he take? And without hesitation his reply was “I would take nothing, but I would go back for my brother; even if it meant that I lost my life in trying to rescue him I would do it in a heartbeat”. When he said those words I got the most respect for this young man sitting across from me because I will be honest: nobody has ever said those words to me personally.  Nobody has ever said to me that if the chips were down that they would come for me; that they’d search high and low even if it meant losing they own lives – for me?  Never once were those words uttered in my direction and I’m on the wrong side of fifty these days.  For sitting across from me, with his arms folded was a young man whom I had met him twice before in my life when I was co-facilitating a workshop on Leadership that he attended.  But just looking at him now with his brow crunched into a thoughtful frown I thought to myself ‘you know what – Tom Cruise ain’t got nothing on you’!

Because across from me sat a real-life example of somebody that doesn’t think twice about himself; and that spoke volumes about a personal quality of a loyal person.  (I’m not sure that he would do it for anybody else, but that is not the point!) The fact that he would do it for his brother who is 2 years his senior, caused me to really take my hat off to him in a salute of absolute respect.  What I do want to say to you right now that across from me sat a young man, who is keeping up a job, who is not caught up in gangsterism, who against the odds made a conscious decision that he was going to live his life as a law abiding citizen.  He admit that he made mistakes when he was younger but he has a sense of determination about him that is rarely reported of in our community newspapers.  These papers goes into a feeding frenzy when another young man is killed due to affiliations to gangs, drugs or any other unsavory business, and reports on it on the front pages as if though that is the only news worthy of our attention.  I want to ask that if there are any male mentors out there that can take this, and other young men like him, by the hand to become even better versions of themselves – I would dare you to take up this challenge!

He believes that many young men out there are getting caught up in the wrong circles, due to wrong friends doing wrong things, because they do not have enough positive role models to look up to. 

Would you describe yourself as ordinary or extraordinary?

He doesn’t think of himself as extraordinary; as he says everybody that he knows is going through the same stuff as him and therefore why should he think of himself as extraordinary? And that is sad – that we don’t have enough men in our society that thinks of themselves as extraordinary given the challenges that they face on a daily basis.  Many gets up in the morning, and holds down a job that they really don’t want to be in. But it is the best job that they can find at the moment. This young man – for all the right reasons – wanted to be in the Navy.  He would apply on numerous occasions and at 30 years of age is hopeful that he might still get in, but his applications were unsuccessful to date.  It is tough out there daily but yet he gets up, and keeps going.

Why do you want to get into the Navy so badly?

Without thinking about it he says  ‘I like the discipline’.  I say to you today that ‘discipline is a form of self-love’.  So for whoever is out there reading this and thinks that all of Mitchell’s Plain’s young men are strung out on drugs, are ruthless thugs, are lazy, without any ambition…here is somebody with so much potential, somebody who is physically fit and determined to make a success of whatever he puts his mind to in spite of his personal circumstances.

Is there someone special in your life at the moment?

And here his eyes lights up and a brief smile is afforded me.  He admits that he might just be a little afraid to give LOVE a chance because he hasn’t had the right emotional support, or mentorship.  He also alluded to the fear that some women he met are too eager to give over their own power so easily ‘just to please the guy’ instead of holding on to her own worth. That, he says, scares him because he would rather deal with the ‘real person’ upfront than to find out later she was not honest.  So Ladies, listen and learn. (I have a strange feeling that one day he will be a very good husband, and a great father to his future children.)

If he could travel, he would love to visit Dubai and Brazil one day.  His only sibling (and older brother) and he were raised by an uncle because his parents passed away when they were both very young.  His favorite music genres are Hip-hop, trance and R&B.

Sabri, I give you my best hopes for a great future as you plod on day-by-day, doing your best.  And I wish you enough courage to pursue your dreams and to one day look back and say I’m not at all sorry for the choices I made because I learnt from each one of them!