Life Lessons From The Boy Who Shot France’s Emmanuel Macron And The Man Who Fathered Marine Le Pen

The writer

Sunday morning, the 7^th of May 2017, around 1030 hours South African time, in France, Emmanuel Macron is under the limelight of radiant stares from his supporters and other voters after casting his own vote for himself.

Some people in that room looked very pensive about the outcome but some were all smiles waiting to take selfies with this odds defying independent politician who was not representing any political party but the people of France according to some political commentators.

All this was happening while I was watching CNN live report coverage of the French elections from Chiawelo, Soweto in South Africa.

The French presidential race was now only between Mr Macron, tipped to be the first youngest and independent president and Marine Le Pen who was being tipped to be the first female French president.

Looking younger than a teenager at my first glance, in that news bulletin I saw a seemingly reserved but focussed young boy getting his cellphone ready to take his best photo shot of Mr Macron.

While being a little slower than the speed of events at that very moment, before the boy took the shot, Mr Macron suddenly turns in another direction and starts talking to other people who were crowding the room and thus leaving the boy standing behind him.

Not giving up, and before his target is whisked away, as if he was a trained photojournalist, the boy walks over to the front of Mr Macron, raises his phone, clicks the shoot button and voila, it’s done, his target is captured.

This young boy diverted my attention from trying to gauge who was going to become the president of France since some life lessons started flocking into my mind.

Quickly, I realised that in that boy, I saw the art of preparation and proper timing as he started to get his phone ready for Mr Macron who was getting close to him even though he later failed to take the shot on the first chance availed to him by circumstances.

More so, he also displayed a sense of courage, resilience and the spirit of a goal getter by trying to take a photo of a person likely to be the first citizen of a country and once more by trying again to take another shot without getting unfazed by the mood and dazzle of circumstances.

Because of his actions, I started to imagine the boy becoming a famous media practitioner or a very successful personality twenty years later and also wondered if I am the only one who recognised and drew some life lessons from this him.

While still thinking about this young man, my attention was taken to another location where after casting her vote Marine Le Pen was being mobbed by journalists trying to extract what could probably be her last civilian comment before occupying the presidential residence.

After her aids had cleared the way and safely gotten her into the car, I saw an interview where a political commentator started talking about the life of Le Pen since she was a twelve year old young girl, barely a teenager for that matter.

What struck me the most was when this political commentator said that way back then when he himself interviewed Le Pen’s father, the confident daddy introduced her daughter as the first female president of France.

My mind started racing up and down trying to figure out what really made this man utter such words that were almost proving prophetic in the very days of this interviewer/ commentator, in the political prime time of her own daughter and in the eyes of mankind.

Could this be that Le Pen’s father had identified some seeds of greatness in her daughter just like I did with the young boy who shot a photo of Macron or could the daughter have been merely inspired by her father’s words for her to enter into politics and rise up the ladder?

Could Le Pen have still kept these words in her heart and mind as an energy drink that she keeps gulping on her way to France’s first house or she had already forgotten them and is now only being pushed by the greatness that her father could have observed in her?

Back to that boy, I started wondering if his parents or the society he comes from could have inspired him to be that brave, focussed and resilient or he was naturally inclined to defy the odds.

While still drenched in these interesting developments, I started asking myself how this world could look like if parents and the broader community could start to identify, develop, promote and celebrate the seeds of greatness in children from as very young as they can be.

I also asked myself, how this world would look like if children from a very young age could be encouraged and be taught to be informed goal getters who stay focused and never give up until they achieve their goals.

In my heart and mind, I am convinced that this boy will surely grab the limelight if he keeps that mind-set and attitude.

I wished I was in that room to give him a pat on the shoulder, encourage him to face life head on as he has already demonstrated and wish him all the best.

More so, I wished I could hear what was in this young man’s mind when he was doing all that and also wished I could ask Le Pen and her father what is it that moulded their thinking way back then which is now influencing the global reality today.

Whatever the case may be, let us all strive to make the greatness in children all over the world germinate, grow and be fruitful for a better tomorrow for us all and for the generations to come.

Brian Kazungu is an Author, Media Practitioner, Entrepreneur and an Opinion Leader.

[email protected], @BKazungu-Twitter