Rose is beautiful to the eyes, fragrant to smell and attractive to being a symbol of love, affection, influence, affluence and power. During my undergraduate at the Ahmadu Bello University, we had rose garden which made the school environment beautiful but two issues were encountered. First, you could get your finger pricked if you attempt to pluck a rose flower because of the thorns. The Rose plant developed thorns as an adaptation mechanism to prevent animals from destroying the rose flower because rose flower is scintillating, tasty and attracting.

The second difficulty encountered in an attempt to pick the rose flower is the security guards who were like guardian angels positioned at strategic points to stop students from accessing the garden or plucking the flowers and if you are not sensitive enough to know their location, you could get yourself arrested. In those days, if you could bypass the guards, you might get your fingers pricked by the thorns which some considered as price to be paid for the benefit of the rose. Success is like a rose. It presents thorns which are challenges and also there are impediments, situational bullies, occasional bouncers that are positioned stop you from reaching out to it. There are no bed of roses when it comes to success, there are only a bed of roses among the thorns and if you know the benefits of success, you won't mind to get hurt yet continue in your quest, you won't also mind to get stopped yet find a way to bypass or bulldoze those blockades and advance to your greatness. Many of us want success but we don't want the challenges, we desire the grandstanding but we don't want to be rejected. Success like a rose has developed adaptation strategies of surrounding itself with challenges so that it is only those that endure and keep at pursuing that can reach it. There are no low hanging fruit(success) again. Also, success has got some guardian angels, some bullies and bouncers that are ready to stop you from reaching it. You either find a way to bypass those security guards or you persuade or negotiate or force your way through else you aren't going to have it. You therefore must be gritty to attain greatness. Many of the greatest people that ever lived walked on thorns before they could reach their bed of roses and funnily, many do not share the notion that there exists bed of roses because they don't see success as an achievement but a step on the rung to greatness and greatness is only achieved through the immortalization of their legacy. This is the point, whenever you get pricked in the pursuit of your dream, smile because success is on the way. Wherever you find a bully or a bouncer or a giant on your way to greatness, give thanks because you are close to the place of your goal. This is why I think Paul told the people of Corrinths that "great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries." It is therefore good to conclude that challenges are designed by nature to ward you from reaching success because careless people have plucked success in the past like rose when it had no thorns and squandered the benefits hence success has developed it's own adaptation and until you are tough you cannot be trusted with the power. Be tough!