If you know what you want your legacy to be,its now that you have to create it.
I found a touchy sentence in one of the books I recently read.It was an answer Helen Keller gave to the question of what would be worse than being blind.I wonder what you and I would say as an answer to that but she solemnly said "Being able to see but having no vision." It did not surprise me to know that many have eyes but very few have the shapes and colours of the future they long for.May be its time to ask yourself if your past is good enough to be the future you look forward to,or may be you are satisfied to be what you are and where you are today and that it matters less to remain like that in the end. Am sure nobody wants to stay the same,we all seek some changes,changes that our physical eyes can not see yet,some of us have a full painted picture of the future we want lying down within our hearts and some don't but still they hope for some change.
Thinking of a human being,I often see how fortunate we are as we are the only creatures fortunate to alter our lives and make decisions.Despite our differences,change will follow only if we define the future we long for and live it with no room for anything to turn us back,nor allowing discouragement delay us from attaining it or be slowed down by ridicule.I know sometimes it looks impossible to attain the visions that we all carry with us more especially when you think of yourself as a nobody with nothing and try to view how some people grew up enjoying a life of opportunities that you never have had, travel to places you never have even dreamt of, maintaining enduring friendships,creating and holding fantastic lasting memories and of course the strong family bonds that they posses, yet you still remain a prisoner of circumstances and a victim of struggles. All this can be frustrating and discouraging but there is one thing that shall always rekindle the flame that would otherwise fade and that's "hope". Hope is a powerful and an enduring motivator,I personally love to view it as a "root ."
In every big tree we see standing today,it stands because it has roots supporting it.From my agriculture experience, I know that a tree or any plant would not grow well or stand by itself health even if it has roots.It needs to be nurtured . There is a lot that is done to come up with a solid plant or a health standing big tree.Lets take this standing big tree as the future you and I envision.It may be a disease free world that you dream about or may be a hunger free nation and some see peace all over the world.Yes that is a picture of the future we have but what are we doing to live that dream?Many are the ways to attaining that vision of a health life for all and many are the routes that will direct us to a hunger free child,woman and man but how many of us have our feet treading in the available routes?Well that is to say we have the seeds sown and the roots are there sprouting to support our plants but we care not to nurture it.
Often when things seem to be going wrong in our communities people tend to ask " What is the government doing about it?" These are the common phrases that befall from our lips. In reality I feel it ain't all about the governments,churches,big organisations or one man responsibility, we all have a part to play to get the future we want and to always remember serving others.For example we are surrounded by many needy people who live below the poverty line in our circles that many of the children in these circles do not go to school nor do they know where their next meals will come from and at the same time we have those who have everything including luxurious dimes to spend on sweet nothings.You may belong to one of these two circles or may be have your own circle,If you belong in the former circle however,you may feel your future is shattered and that no one really cares especially when you look at the later circle but that is not all there is in life,there is a life you somehow see,a wish you make and the courage and strength you carry to face another day better than today,yes that is the hope in you.The shocking thing is that those in the rich circle may even be forefront to say "what is the government,church or this and this organisation doing about these people and their situation?" Just give it a thought,what would happen if such people stop looking at the government as the problem solvers and reach out to their needy neighbours? Wouldn't that bring us close to the change we envision? Many are the times we depersonalise the problems our world is facing today.We find ourselves limited to taking some tasks just because we view it as a big thing to do."No this is just too big to handle" we claim. As a Christian, I know that faith without action is dead and in the same way I would say vision without deeds is unattainable,To those of you that have read or heard of Mother Teresa you can recall her saying "I never take care of crowds,only of a person,if I stopped to look at the crowd,I would never begin" I believe this is a good example to us that our biggest risk is allowing ourselves to be overcome by the magnitude of the task before us.Without the personal gifts of ourselves, the miracle will never begin,the transformation will never come and the vision will never stand.If it was not for the five loaves of bread and fish the little boy gave,5000 people would not have been fed.Our service may be insignificant,but just like a catalyst we may be serving a chain of events that ultimately will change the world.
It is only through our service that we can dream of breaking the chains of sickness,erasing the scars of hunger,healing the wounds of war,sowing the seed of knowledge through education and clearing the sentence of lifetime poverty.
