Without much ado, for the benefit of the laymen like Whale Mouth who is just a comedian, Ores are useful mineral constituents such as, Zinc, gold, diamonds, Lead, Aluminium and so many others, most times these minerals are accumulated with other impurities, sometimes other minerals so when a sample let's call it sample A is found by a geologist, he trys to identify what he has. When he notices that there is a useful mineral in his sample, that mineral is an Ore while every other thing attached to it are gangues. A gangue is seen as a waste product. I could vividly recall that my colleague Mc Shakara did a show which title was "SHAKARA AND THE GANG" as a comedian Whale Mouth that was a creative title, but as Kevin a geologist I told myself that Mc Shakara had just told the world that he is the useful mineral while his friends and colleagues that make up the gang are impurities. Funny enough I performed at the show, so automatically am one of the impurities. LoL!
Ores are usually separated from gangues to make it useful and economical, that is why the gold pass through the furnace that is so hot for purification. That is why when zinc is found it is separated from Lead which is commonly found with in the lab. With this I can say that for every useful mineral that has been separated, it had a gangue (impurities) initially
Subsequently, I can say also that, for every successful entity today, as at its potential state it had impurities, until a force was acted upon, and that force led to the removal of his/her impurities.
When you decide to be at your potential state, you as good as the impurities, you are part of the gangue, you are not known, you are useless, you are a priceless commodity. Only researches and discoveries brought about the gold and diamonds we revere so much today. Hitherto to the researches and discoveries they where gangues, they where impurities. I bet you, if you see a gangue with gold in it, you will want to use it as a stone to hit the mango fruit on the tree, when you get your mango fruits you walk away leaving the gangue with gold in it(stone). Paying prominence to mango leaving a raw gold, whereas; the former is greater than the later, only if it was able to identify itself.
However, today so many of us who are actually ores, tend to be so comfortable among impurities, we feel we are not useful because what we see around us are impurities, we see ourselves as gangues because we live and dine with them. We are unable to visualise the greatness in us. The impurities around us make it inevitable for us to take a step. We are bounded with limitations, we say to ourselves "am not the only one here", we fail to take cognisance of the fact that though we may be together our future and destiny are not the same, because even within the gangue in geology there distinct differences from every impurity, the consistuents of Gold and Silver differs yet they could be found together as a gangue. Its like a baby leopard found by a shepherd and he decided to rear it among its sheep, when ever the baby leopard gets to the stream its reflection is totally different from the herds of sheep, yet it sees itself as a sheep because its yet to discover who he truly it.
My dear friends, it is time to begin to think outside the box, yes, it is time to move away from being part of the gangue to become an ore. You cannot be a useful mineral, in as much you are part of the gangue, you are useless. Seize to be an impurity today, your resignation letter as a member of the gangue is long overdue.
These are the common story you here while in gangue: "nobody in my family have Bsc", "nobody have ever travelled out of the country", "my Dad didn't own a car" "my mum is just a civil servant, so I will just work with my school leaving certificate". Hey! No no no... who on earth doesn't want gold and diamonds, you see celebrities pay much to get them and they flaunt them. They where actually useless until they got discovered and purified. They were in that gangue you are now, refuse to be am impurity, tell yourself, positive things, say "I am an Ore not a gangue" ores are very expensive, gangues are given for free. I recall visiting a zinc mining site in Ebonyi state, the miners allowed us to take samples of the gangues for free though they were zinc ore in them, but as at the state they were, they are useless because they have not been purified but do you know that we payed for the Zinc ores, that have already been separated?.
There is something in us that separate us from others, we are born unique and dynamic. One more thing you should know is that, when an ore is discovered, it take processing to make it more precious. So it doesn't end in discovering only, you have to pass through a process the more you are in the process of being useful, the better you will become. The gold you cherish so much pass through a very hot furnace in order to be the best. We shall talk about the processing subsequently.
Conclusively, I will challenge you today, to take walk away from the gangue. You can be richer than Dangote, you can move from being an employee to employer, you can move from being an obioma tailor to be an international fashion designer, you can be funnier and Ali baba, more creative than AY, a better actor than Jim Iyke. A better footballer than Lionel Messi. Like the HIV/AIDS awareness adverts, "IT BEGINS WITH YOU" or the Peak Milk commercials using Kanu Nwankwo says "ITS IN YOU"
When next I see you, I should be shaking hands with you as an Ore not the member of the gangue.
By:
WHALE MOUTH CFR
KEVIN USIAPHE (NMGS)
