This week, I turn 60! Twelve of those years, I have written this column every week. Thank you for making it worth the while by your encouragement and positive feedback. It has been an exciting journey full of various twists and turns. In it all, I can boldly say that God has been very gracious and blessed me in more ways than I can actually recount. Today, I would like to share a few lessons – not in any particular order – that life has taught me in my sojourn on earth.
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The first is that after God, people are our greatest assets. No matter how wealthy or materially endowed you are, without some significant people in your life, you are the poster boy for evident misery.
Some people come into your life to help you. Some come to hurt you. Some to cheat you. Some to frustrate you. But all come to teach you how to build bridges or how to set boundaries. There is always something to learn from every relationship. One of the greatest blessings I have enjoyed is the gift of family, nuclear and extended, biological and spiritual. The second is friendship and the third, mentorship. Every relationship has its purpose and its flavor. People will flow into your life and they will flow out. Treasure them as an integral part of your odyssey, but don’t build your hopes on them. People will leave you when the season of their assignment in your life is over. Be comfortable with that. I have been stabbed in the back more times than I care to remember. Until I gained perspective, I used to be very upset whenever it happened. Betrayal is however never about the traitors. It’s about you, your growth, and your character development.
Contrary to what is being portrayed in our world, life has taught me that material possessions denominated in cars, several pieces of real estate are not everything. The obscenely ostentatious lifestyle of public office holders and many entertainment icons would give one the impression that having lots of cash is the silver bullet that takes care of all of life’s worries. A healthy bank balance goes a long way in solving some of life’s problems no doubt, but there are far too many things that money cannot buy. If money could substitute for good health, Steve Jobs would still be alive. A good name, the Holy Bible so aptly teaches us, is better than riches. Money may open some doors, but only a good name keeps them sustainably open. Very often, integrity would open some doors that tons of cash may not. I recall my experience at the Ekiti State House of Assembly when nominees for the State Judicial Service Commission were being screened. When it was my turn, before I could be asked any question, one of the legislators got up and started paying tribute to my late Dad, speaking in glowing terms about his integrity, contributions to our home town and the good name he left behind. He was sure that with that pedigree, I would perform creditably on the assignment. I was instantly cleared. On the day we were sworn in, the immediate past Governor relayed how he arrived at nominating me. According to him, it was due to the consistency of character he had known with me over a 25-year period. The time, discipline and sacrifice that it takes to choose a good name over various attractive alternatives may look like a hard route to take, but the dividends are on the long run and for a long time. Cutting corners may buy you short-term advantage, but it can lead to long-term adversity. Compromise holds no promise of a great future. If you build your character capital, the world will advance you credit on the collateral.
In politics, I have learnt that it is not those with the best ideas or manifestoes that win elections. It is evident in our body-politick. Election victory is not about eloquence or highfaluting theories from a Harvard classroom. It is about the ability to connect with people. In Nigeria, most of the people who watch television debates or run commentaries on social media do not have Permanent Voter Cards, talk less of voting. Every bad leader is elected by good people who refuse to vote!
There is nothing that we have that we have not first received. Today’s business and corporate world environments are trying so hard to squeeze out God-consciousness from the market place. Most successful people in the contemporary world don’t believe that they owe their position or success to a divine source. Life has however taught me that success without godliness is emptiness. A man’s life is not the sum-total of what he possesses. The absence of God-consciousness in any environment creates a ‘jungle’ where there is a constant values-somersault. When rules are out of a soccer game, the goal-posts have no fixed position. In the rat race, the one who wins is still a rat at the end of the race. A man’s defence is only sure when God is on his side.
In any enterprise, resourcefulness trumps resources. Success in life is not about how much you have. It’s about what you do with what you have. Resourcefulness is predicated on the ability to maximize what is available to produce what is desirable. Value creators are never short of resources. Those who either add or create value will always lead the pack in any society. Everyone can be a value creator because we all have one special ability or gift that, when properly harnessed in the service of humanity, can be our compass out of poverty.
Action, not dreams, is what guarantees results. Nobody prospers through what he plans to do. Success doesn’t follow dreaming, it follows action. According to the Chinese, “Talk does not cook rice”. Till we act, any plan or goal is only as good as the paper on which it is written.
Life is punctuated with several unpredictable curves and rude interruptions. Some of such curves and rude interruptions are simply wake-up calls that help us affirm or reset our priorities. One of such for me was a near-death health challenge I had in 2011. In one month, I lost 15 kilograms of body weight! It was both a wake-up call and a learning curve for me. The experience was harrowing but with a gratifying aftermath. It was the genesis of the GIVE A PILLOW CAMPAIGN through which we have been able to place almost three thousand fibre pillows on public hospital beds across five states in Nigeria!
Finally, in the words of A.L Williams, “All you can do is all you can do. But all you can do is enough!”. To quote Charles de Gaul, former French President, “If everyone swept the front of his house, the entire street will be clean”. Our nation’s development is a collective project. Play your own part in your little corner. Be the difference that you seek.
For the opportunity that God has given me to live, learn and to love, I am indeed very grateful!
Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!
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