"There sleeps within each of us the power to become great - each in his own way."
- Harold Keown
Everybody that enters the planet earth arrived properly wired to function and perform maximally. We have the ability, power and capability to live the kind of life we so desired, and to enjoy our life to the fullest. And God, I believe, has destined no man to die poor and wretched.
No matter the form of disability a person is born with, she/he may harness some good from such a disability. Anyone who wishes may pass through life noticed, honoured and dignified. My presence on earth is my right to live. My right to live provides me with the freedom to go through this earth beautified, decorated and distinguished.
And if you care much, in this land of your pilgrimage you may be sung, celebrated and saluted.
Yes, this is Adam's lot, even unto his shoot. But the question is: why are some people successful in life and others are not?
Why do some live life to the fullest and others barely exist?
Sometime back in my neighbourhood, I walked past a tree. Under its shade laid an elderly man, I guess in his late fifties or early sixties. His face looked pale and dotted with pains; the distance between his skin and the bone it covered will be considered negligible by experts in the game of figures.
As I walked past this begotten of Adam with a sorry look, my heart ached and bled. I saw a man whose pilgrimage had almost ended. He was looking pitiful, miserable, sad, exhausted and obscure. He just was nowhere near the person he could be.
Poet Henry D. Longfellow affirmed that the greatest tragedy of the average man is that he goes to his grave with his music still in him.
Gosh! This is no small tragedy. The tragedy of the average man is partly the tragedy of the world world.
Your "music" was given to you for the common good of the human race - why withhold it?
For some people at the end of their life it's obvious they're emptied and fully used, but fulfilled. Others pass on well-loaded and unused but dissatisfied and unfulfilled.
Why?
I believe the answer lies in knowing who you are, what you can be and what you can do.
William James said,
"most people live in a restricted circle of their potential being. We all have reservoirs of energy and gebyuses to draw upon of which we do not dream."
From youth, parents either by what they did or told their children have set them up to believe something. Our society has led us to accept one limitation or the other; they have made us believe that some things are impossible. They have made us believe that if we fail it's not our fault and if we succeed it's not of our effort.
Our religious leaders have made us believe that God is the architect of every "good" and "bad" thing that happens to us in life. In fact, our society is always trying to show us the bad side of everything around us. They have convinced us to believe that we are worthless. Some of our teachers have told us we're dull students and cannot learn, and that nothing good will come from us.
But Einstein was told the same, yet he became one of the finest scientists that ever lived.
Benjamin Disraeli was laughed at and hissed into silence by members of Parliament when he first attempted to address them, yet he went on to become a great statesman.
The famous Gates of Microsoft was said to have a porous brain, yet for years he topped the list of the world's richest men.
Henry Ford, Albert Schultz and others were equally told they can't become, yet they ended up becoming great inventors, presidents and founders, builders, industrialists, and academicians.... people the world can't but listen to.
What could have been responsible for the success of these people? What one thing did they discover which placed them on the stage of greatness?
The answer no doubt lies in self-discovery.
These people discovered themselves; they discovered the person living inside their frail bodies.
There is the real you inside your body seeking expression.
Inside a poor, tattered and wretched garage boy, Aliko Dangote was a business mogul.
Inside a blind, deaf and dumb, Helen Keller was a performer, a celebrity. She had to discover that person inside and allow her to express herself.
Great entrepreneur and financial educator, Robert T. Kiyosaki often speaks about how poorly he did in English Language when in school.
Today, he is an accomplished author with a national bestseller that has remained in America's New York Times for years.
He was poor in the English Language, but his body housed a writer, which he was able to discover.
Who are you?
Who is living inside your body?
You could be housing the guy that beat an Olympic record.
You could be housing the greatest physician of the 21st century.
It recently dawned on me that one of the most frequently asked questions often is not answered correctly is "who are you?"
This question is clearly evidence that we believe there is somebody - the real is - 'inside us' not known by the other person. And the irony is that most people never get to know the person inside them.
Who is inside you seeking expression?
Inside you might be one greater than Wole Soyinka, someone who could be richer than Elon Musk!
The truth is you don't know what is yours until you discover who you are. Find out.