Junior!
“Mummy, mummy, mummy!” The nursery school boy-
Junior, called immediately he dropped his bag, arriving home after school.
“Yes darling, what’s the matter?” His sweet mom
asked, clearly surprised at how high his spirit was, given his dislike for
school.
“Mum, our teacher taught us about Professions today,
and how to choose the right one.” Junior said, as he sat on his mother’s lap. A
mousy grin on his cheek, clearly he was enjoying his mother’s show of
affection.
“Hmm, can you name two or three for me?” Mummy asked
him, gently brushing his scattered hair with the stroke of her fingers.
“Of cause I can!” Junior said, excited at the
prospect—for he had a vivid recollection of today’s lessons stored in his head.
He remembered every single stroke of the teacher’s chalk on the black board,
the smell of the graphite pencil as he scribbled along with the other pupils,
taking in every single thing the teacher had said.
“Law, Medicine, Engineering, Economics, and
etcetera!” said Junior, happy to have remembered them.
“So which of them do you want to become you grow
up?” Mother dearest asked Junior.
“I want to read…no, no, no.”
“Hmm, common say it Love. Don’t be shy.”
“I want to be a Lawyer!”
“That’s great Junior! Wow! Look at my boy; he is all
grown up now.” Mummy said, tickling Junior to a dozen laughter.
“You know what Junior? You’ve taken the most
important step in life now—You have decided who you are and what you want to
become.” Mummy continued. Her voice a bit serious now, Junior having calmed
from his laughter.
“There’s only one step left.” Mummy said, gazing at
Junior’s big blue eyes.
“And what’s that step mum?” Junior asked, curiosity
aglow in his eyes.
“Follow the path to you Dream.”
“That’s all- just follow the path to your dreams?” Junior
asked quite bewildered. Surely it couldn’t be that easy? He thought in his
heart.
“That’s all my little Prince- that’s all. There’ll
be challenges along the way, but if you never stray from the path to your goal.
One day no matter how long it takes you’ll get there.” Mummy replied.
“Wow, that easy. Thanks mum, I love you.”
“I love you more Junior.” Mother dearest said
kissing Junior’s cheek, just before he ran off to play
Introduction
That was the story of a five year old boy, who began
to choose his life’s path at primary two. That story might apply to few people
in this world- but not to the majority. It is more than a fact, it is a
universal truth that many men till death do not know what their purpose in life
is. They are born, they live and they die. Finish. That’s all.
I am burdened by this truth. I am sickened by its
reality- saddened by its popularity, most especially amongst the youths. Let us take just a few lines to ask ourselves
a few questions. Shall we?
How many of our children or siblings in school today
are really decided on what they want to become? If they are wanted to become a
doctor in Jss 2, now in SS 3 are they planning on reading Law? If they fail
their Jamb five times or perhaps rewrite their Waec do they decide to opt of
school into the military? Or perhaps they’d prefer to go into business and make
quick money.
Let us now put down those questions of “I want to
become” aside and focus on the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room. Have
you ever asked yourself, really paused for a moment and asked yourself or
perhaps someone you care about: “What is my purpose on earth? What exactly I’m
I born to do? Who I’m I?”
Wow! Those are really, really, big questions. The
most important questions one could ever ask himself. There is no one, I repeat
there is no one in this world; no great thinker before and during our time that
has not pondered upon these questions, and mused over its effect. There are a
thousand books out there that talks about realising our purpose on earth and
achieving maximum success, but let us take a different look at it. Let us gaze
upon this subject from a different angle.
As we travel through this New Year, I want us to be
able to achieve this: I want us to be able to beat our chest in knowledge that
we know we are, and what we are born to do.
How
Do You Define Yourself?
Every child, adult- male or female has a single
word, or a few words they believe defines them. There is no doubt in this truth
that every single individual has a psycho-definitive-photo of themselves stored
somewhere in their cerebrum.
In other for us to tackle the question of who we
are, we have to first start with the Most Primal picture of ourselves- that
single thing we think or believe that defines us completely. When we begin to
grow, at a particular age we begin to have a particular way we see ourselves.
For example one might take pride in saying, “I do not tell lies”, meaning that
person is highly moral.
From this stage we begin at first unconsciously
searching our hearts for some meaning to life and as we face the hot fires of
life we begin to use words like: “I am shy”, “I cannot forgive”, “I am lonely”,
“No one loves me”, “I know book”, “I would become rich when I grow up” and
etcetera, etcetera.
These words we use at that stage of life overtime
begins to define us; they begin to shape the way we think and act. The one who
says, “I am brilliant” and works towards it begins to excel in his academics.
The other who believes he is shy, when called upon to do things in public runs
away in fear. We have ultimately with the assistance of time and the
persistency of our words become the architect of our nature- driving our future
to a particular line.
Over the time we tell ourselves we want to become-
Lawyers, Accountants, Engineers, Artists, Politicians, Entrepreneurs and whatever
tickles our fancy. Our parents, friends and neighbours also play a crucial role
in this image building. Many times Parents insult us, most times in attempt to
make us realise our mistakes, but in a long period of time, some of us instead
of taking the corrections alone- we take both the corrections and the insults. The
insults we take, we add to this image of ourselves- for some of us this insults
might serve as a boost motivating us to better ourselves, while for the majority
of us it weakens our moral, which will result to a negative portrait.
Our friends at school, our teachers at school; the
books we read and the movies we see; a stranger in the street; our friends at
home and our elders in the neighbourhood: every single person and thing adds to
this image of ourselves.
This image building is a never ending process. It
will continue until our bodies are properly dressed beneath the ground.
You see, my point in bringing this image of ourselves
into the picture is to make you realise that: You May Be Defined By The Image Of You, You Have Built Overtime,
but, Who You Are, Really, Is Different
From The Image Of Yourself. In other words- the picture of you is not you.
Let us prove this, shall we?
Perhaps you must have noticed that shy sweet girl in
class that hardly speaks to anyone. She is tall-just about the right height for
you, with great figure eight, big brown eyes, breath taking voice, brilliant
and all together sexy and beautiful at the same time. She’s perfect. Everyone
knows she is perfect, you know she is perfect, and from the first time you saw
her you’ve been dying to talk to this diva. It then happens that one evening- I
shall propose seven o’clock to be the time; it came upon you to amuse yourself
on the happenings on a nearby street close to your neighbourhood. You decided
today to follow a new path on your way to this classy street, about a few
meters before the street you see the Diva- the girl you’d do anything for. At
first you did not recognize her: she wore make-up—the kind of type that
probably scares you, bumshot nickers, long brazilian hair, and high-heel Gucci shoe-
that cost a few tens of thousands. As if that was not enough she was, flirting
with three men in brand new SUV. Everything about her was different, you stood
there- rooted at the spot unable to look elsewhere, completely dumbfounded. As
you watched, one of the men rubbed her ass with his hands and she giggled in
response, telling the man in that sexy voice of hers’ that her ass would cost
him. The man smiled in response, that smile that says “I have too much of
money”. They finish negotiations, she enters his car, and they drive away… You
saw her the following morning at school, sited in her normal desk, that shy and
innocent face back in place—a complete image of innocence and beauty. You
decided to talk to her today, to find out more about her…
That was a fictional presentation of a perfect
example of how deceptive image can be sometimes. And I know in reality we’ve
witnessed such type of stories play out many times. Friends who we thought we
knew, and later we found out they were living dual lives.
Image cannot be trusted, it is not who you are. You
are altogether different from how you see yourself and the way people perceive
you. THE IMAGE IS DIFFERENT FROM THE INDIVIDUAL.
In toto,
We have seen that many people define themselves and
sometimes allow others to define them by what the see- by the image. But, I
have tried to establish that the person is in ninety percent of the cases very
different from the image he has of himself.
This then begs the question: How do I know who I am?
The
Ultimate Formula: Mark 12: 28-31
A
morning with Bill Gates
Mr Henry Bill Gates the 111 walked into his office at the Headquarters
of Microsoft Inc., in a fifty thousand dollar suit. He had his specs pulled up
just at the right angle- a little bit below the retina; his small blue eyes
alight with vigour. It was around eight o’clock in the morning and business had
only just started for the day, as he walked through the first floor of the
gigantic skyscraper one could hear the sound of his ten thousand dollar Gucci
shoe across the carbon-hardened glass floor of the hall. On his way to the
elevator he waved hello to everyone and anyone he saw, today was going to be
spectacular! He thought. He’d finally gotten a breakthrough algorithm that
would shake off their major competitors, especially Apple Inc. and finally put
Microsoft-his company far above others—at the apex of computer software
technology…
Anyone who cares to read knows that Bill Gates did
not start like that. A few decades ago when he was only fifteen, he had a
dream: to revolutionise the way people used computers. And with persistency and
time today for the past twenty years Bill Gates has constantly ranked between
the first and the third richest man in the world. In the process of achieving
his dreams, other things of life were added unto him. So I would pose this
question to you: Who Is Bill Gates?
Jesus Christ Lk 2: 49 Jesus
Christ was preaching to priest and scribes- some of the most learned men of his
time, at the age of 12! He was confounding great men of knowledge and wisdom
and understanding. And when his parent and step parent (Mary and Joseph) found
him, he asked them if they did not know that he must be about his father’s
business? What does this suggest to you? In the book of Mathew 1:21: “for he
shall save his people from their sins”. So I would pose this question to you:
who is Jesus Christ?
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
Arguably one of the greatest men throughout history,
Mandela was born in July, 1918, at Mveco, South Africa. We all know his story,
so I would not bother to linger there, I’ll simply go straight to quote from
his book- A Long Walk To Freedom, the last paragraph. I quote: “I have walked
that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps on
the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one
only finds out that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment
here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look
back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with
freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not
yet ended.” His book Long Walk To Freedom was published first in the year 1994,
about 15years before he died. And we would all agree that he never ceased to
walk that part of freedom. So I would pose this question: Who is Nelson
Mandela?
It is written in the holy book that in the mouth of
two or three witnesses let every words be fulfilled, there are many more
examples I would like to give: Martin Luther King, Moses, George Washington,
and many more. And for all of them I would have asked the same question: Who
are they? For now I would end with these.
What I want you to see from this question is that
who you are is connected to Love. You say, how? Well it’s simple. Each and
every one of us has that particular thing we do- that dream we secretly have-
that hidden aspect of us that brings us celestial joy whenever we feed it: the
real you hidden beneath the image. That one thing- for some a couple of things,
we do that we love. Professor Abraham Maslow once called it – Self
Actualisation. When we do those things- we are perfect, we feel loved and we
love back in return, we are the authors, and we are gods. All chains of vanity
are loosed- the real you is made manifest. You are truly yourself; you become
yourself—not the image of yourself.
So when we say who is Bill Gates? We are merely asking-
what is that particular thing by which we can completely define Bill Gates; and
the answer is simple: Computer Software Technology. That was his dream- that is
still his dream: to continuously better humanity through the use of computers.
And today he has achieved it; today his name is synonymous with software
technology, like Plato is synonymous with Philosophy. The same thing for Jesus-
all over the world, the birth of Jesus Christ, popularly called Christmas
signifies the birth of the saviour of the world. To Christians all over the
world, Jesus is the way the truth and the life- he alone can save. So as a
Christian once somebody asks: who is the saviour of the world? The first name
that comes to your mind is Jesus. It does not matter what other religions say
of him- like the Muslims consider him to be a prophet. Like I said before:
Mathew 1:21- that is Jesus- that is who he is, not what other people consider
him to be: He is the saviour of the world. The same thing applies for Nelson
Mandela of blessed memories- his name is synonymous with the black struggle:
with the fight against racial degradation, segregation, and all forms of
oppression. Like he said in his book, if you’ve read it before, “It was this
desire for the freedom of my people to live their lives with dignity and
self-respect that animated my life…” This holds true for countless other men
and women whose names are scribbled down in the pages of history- Wright
Brothers, Graham Bell, Abraham Lincoln etcetera, etcetera.
In
Summary
There is a burning desire somewhere in your
subconscious, there is a dream that secretly exist somewhere in your heart—there
is message your soul is sending you. There is a path the ‘you’ is telling you
to follow- a voice directing you somehow. That is the key dear reader; that is
the only key that can answer the questions: Who I’m I? What Is my purpose on
earth? That is the key to self-mastery, to self-fulfilment and
self-actualization. It is the only key that would bring you joy and happiness.
The key is simple: Love.
So the question you have to ask yourself is: What is
that thing I do that makes me feel absolutely me? The question you have to ask
yourself dear reader is: I’ve I been listening? The question you have to ask
yourself is: I’ve I been following?
You see if I ask you today to define chemistry today
you’d perhaps say: “chemistry is the study of the composition, properties, and
uses of matter.” You will not tell me, “Chemistry is defined as the chemistry…”
You cannot define a thing by that thing, rather you define it by its
properties, in this case when you ask yourself: How do I define myself? Who I’m
I? You have to answer that question by the most important character of your
person—its sole purpose.
The answer to who you are can only be gotten from
what you are—that is what you are born to do. And that answer my brother or
sister is an answer only you can find. That answer lies beneath the picture,
beneath what you merely think you are or what others think you to be. You have
to search your soul; you have to find your heart- you have to listen to that
voice crying in your mind. You have to find your sole purpose: that is who you
are.
Don’t get me wrong, a man can be defined by more
than one thing, but there is a particular thing that explicitly defines him.
Jesus was the son of God, Mathew 16:16, but that was not his sole purpose- that
was not what defined him: he was defined almost entirely by his sacrifice on
the cross. Nelson Mandela was a lawyer, that was what he loved doing, but that
was not the slightest bit who he was. Bill Gates is a school dropout, a
billionaire and a philanthropist but that is not who he is. There are many more
countless examples, but this should do.
That is the formula mate- the formula is love.
Don’t
Hurry
It is a gradual process, but the earlier you find it
the better it would be for you. As it would help you accomplish more, as you
would have a much clearer focus. You would spend less of your time running
round the mountain of life, and use that time productively.
2016
A new year is just another breaking of the day, but
what makes it important is how you decide to spend it.
So once again I want to say: Listen. Listen to the
voice, find your purpose. It might take you a day, perhaps a month or a few
months, or even years- the important thing is that from this moment you begin
to find it. Jesus knew it at the age of twelve; David knew it at the age of
fifteen, Joseph at the age of fifteen, Moses at the age of thirty, Bill Gates
at fifteen, Mandela at twenty seven. But like I said earlier on: the earlier
the better.
As you begin this year I want you to remember this:
Persistency is a force nature cannot defy.
Keep flying on eagles’ wings!
