By: Amb. S. YASIR ABIOLA
This afternoon, I found myself reflecting on a simple but profound reality: we do not all start life from the same position.
Some people are born into homes where opportunities are readily available—good schools, financial support, influential connections, family businesses and a safety net when things go wrong. Others grow up having to struggle for things that seem ordinary to others. For them, education may require sacrifice, opportunities may have to be created, and every little progress may come through persistence.
That difference is privilege.
But privilege and struggle are not the complete story. What matters is what we do with the circumstances we have been given.
For the person who was born into wealth, privilege should be a platform for responsibility, not an excuse for complacency. And for the person who was born into hardship, struggle should not become a reason to surrender to circumstances.
You can only inherit the available resources; the unavoidable must be worked for.
Privilege does not necessarily mean that someone has done something wrong, just as coming from a poor background is not a person’s fault. It simply means that some people begin life with advantages that others do not have.
But here is where the story becomes important: your starting point does not have to become your finishing point.
If you come from a wealthy or privileged background, appreciate the advantage you have, but do not mistake privilege for personal achievement. What you inherited may open doors, but what you do with those opportunities determines how far you go.
And if you come from a poor background, do not allow your circumstances to define your destiny. Your journey may be harder, your opportunities may be fewer, and your path may take longer—but struggle can become the motivation to build what you did not inherit.
“You can only inherit the available resources; the unavoidable must be worked for.”
You may inherit a house, but you cannot inherit the discipline required to maintain it. You may inherit a business, but you cannot inherit the wisdom needed to grow it. You may inherit connections, but you cannot inherit competence. You may inherit wealth, but you cannot inherit character, resilience, purpose or the ability to create lasting value.
Some things can be handed to you. Others must be earned.
This is why effort matters.
For someone from a disadvantaged background, effort is not merely about working hard; it is about deliberately changing the trajectory of your life. Education, skills, discipline, relationships, creativity, integrity and persistence can become the tools with which you rewrite your story.
You may not have chosen the family you were born into. You may not have chosen the economic circumstances that surrounded your childhood. But as you grow, you gain some responsibility for what you build from what you have.
Do not spend your entire life complaining about the advantages others received. Study them. Learn from them. Build your own.
Privilege may give someone a head start, but a head start is not the same as the finish line.
And struggle, though painful, does not have to be a permanent sentence.
Your background may explain where you started, but it does not have to determine where you end.
Work. Learn. Develop yourself. Build relationships. Create value. Take opportunities seriously. Start small if necessary, but keep moving.
Because sometimes, the greatest achievement is not inheriting a better story—it is becoming the person who changes the story for the generation that comes after you.
Written by:
Amb. S. Yasir Abiola
30 August 2026
