Just as the thought of your heart becomes your reality, it will be a great tragedy, if your opportunity comes and you are not ready for it. My people remain into inferior condition because they never took the time to invest in their brains and to add application to their information. They fall and are in bondage, not just because the economy is terrible, not because they are citizens of a failed state, it is because they lack knowledge. The ability of a man to draw insight from his environments and from that knowledge, create an indelible mark in the sands of time remains the fastest way to progress in life. When God in the book of Exodus wanted to set Moses free from his life of a hopeless shepherd, He simply asked, “what is in your hand?”. The knowledge of your heart does not give you something mighty extra, no. It only changes your perception; you see opportunities in otherwise obscure positions not thought of naturally.
When I speak of knowledge, I am not just talking of classroom certificates, degrees and emblems. I remember the story of the brilliant professor who went to the creeks of the Niger Delta in Nigeria to visit his grandparents whom he had not seen for years. On getting to the bank of the first river he had to cross to get there he met a young lad of about fifteen years of age who offered to take him in his canoe for a fee. While in transit, he then tried to strike up a friendly conversation with him.
“Why on earth should a promising young guy of your age want to take this kind of job, when your mates are in school? Did you ever go to school? ”, he asked.
“No sah, I am no have chance. School village I am go here wia turn to oil company, and new skul we hia no get money . So, me I am fish for money chopping”, the young boy replied in a badly disfigured form of Pidgin English. “Wow, what a shame. They chose to waste your life like this?”.
That means you know nothing. You don’t know anything about marketing and economics even to manage your business? He asked.
No sah, came the prompt reply.
What a hopeless situation. I am so sorry for your predicament. So sorry for your predicament.
Then came a mighty wind came with torrents and swung the boat against a rock, which tore the boat into pieces.
Oga, you swim well? The young boy asked the man.
“No! No! I can’t”, the professor shouted while splashing amidst gulps of water. “Your own don finish”! (You are finished!). the most important lessons and examinations in life and business are not learnt within the four walls of a learning institution.
I ask you again, what is in your hand? What can you do? What knowledge do you have that people are looking for? With the emergence of professional public speakers, people no longer joke saying talk is cheap. Even the back benchers who only knew how to crack jokes in class are now the millionaire comedians whom top business men invite to spice up their dry meetings. He simply cracks a few jokes, slaps some jokes about them and they pay him for it. What is in your hand, I ask again? In an information age where information abounds like waters, it is important that I am able to bridge between knowledge and action. The wish to be great is not scarce; the wish for wealth is very common, everyone wants it- the difference between those who have it and have not is the ability to break the inertia of inaction.
Most of us are waiting for some big break that will push us out of our predicament, but some people are making and creating their opportunities. Ever since I came across this quote by T.S. Lawrence I have not forgotten it. He said, “all men dream, but they dream unequally. Some of them dream lofty and high dreams in the recesses of their minds while tossing on the bed at night. The other kind of men are dangerous. They dream with their eyes wide awake. They stretch their arms wide and work to ensure that the dream comes into reality.”
The spirit of the age requires that anyone who aims to peak in life must not shrink back from doing business with knowledge; that they should not spare any effort in mastering the intricacies of the business or skill in which is developed within him.
Common, dust your clothes and hands, the possibilities are endless .
