Much of the world now does, which is why the twenty-first century is becoming an Asian one. They have gone through the undoubtedly traumatic transition out of their traditional comfort zones to embrace modernity. Many of them did it the really hard way, like the Chinese, or the easy way, like the Japanese. But they all eventually did it. They grabbed the nettle and went for it.

As the Chinese found, you can’t tackle modernity with reservations. It demands a lot. Not everything, but a lot.

I think quite large sections of indigenous society aren’t committed. If they were, indigenous child school truancy would be negligible. They would be saying to themselves, “I can’t make it, but I will move heaven and earth to make sure my kids do.” That is what many of the migrants from East Africa are saying their kids; what so many migrants from traumatized and impoverished regions have been saying to their children since Irish convicts came here in the nineteenth century.

It is time that indigenous men and the society they come from accepted that the world is just as much their oyster as anyone else’s. It is waiting for their arrival. Cheering crowds await them taking their rightful place.

So get a blood move on guys. Stop feeling sorry for yourselves and become winners instead. Respect and credibility are only as far away as your motivation to succeed.

And please, spare me the excuses!