Fight For Your Freedom

       Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, (the South Africans call him Madiba, meaning “Saviour”) remains an icon of freedom around the world today because of the price he paid for his countrymen and women to be liberated from Apartheid.  For 27 grueling years, this man remained behind bars and refused to be released on conditions by the white Boars who ruled South Africa for many decades and desecrated and dehumanized the blacks.

          Mandela along with other black freedom fighters like William Nkomo, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo stood their grounds until they gained freedom for their people.  During the whole of the 1950s, Mandela was the victim of various forms of repression.  He was banned, arrested and imprisoned.  For much of the latter half of the decade, he was one of the accused in the mammoth Treason Trial, at great cost to his legal practice and his political work.  After the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, the African National Congress (ANC) with Mandela as one of the leaders was outlawed, and Mandela, still on trial, was detained.

          This man was forced to live apart from his family, moving from place to place to evade detection by the government’s ubiquitous informers and police spies.  He had to adopt a number of disguises, sometimes dressed as a common labourer, at other times as a chauffeur.

          During one of his trials, specifically in the Rivonia Trial for sabotage, Mandela’s statements in court during these trials are classics in the history of the resistance to apartheid, and they have been an inspiration to all who have opposed it.  His statement from the dock in the Rivonia Trial ends with these words:

I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination.  I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.  It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.  But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

          Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment and started his prison years in the notorious Robben Island Prison, a maximum security prison on a small island 7 kilometers off the coast of Cape Town.  In April 1984, he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town and in December 1988, he was moved to the Victor Verster Prison near Paarl from where he was eventually released.  While in prison, Mandela flatly rejected offers made by his jailers for remission of sentence in exchange for accepting the Bantustan policy by recognizing the independence of the Transkei and agreeing to settle there.  Again in the 1980s, he rejected an offer of release on condition that he renounces violence.  “Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.  Only free men can negotiate”, he said.

          In a life that symbolizes the triumph of the human spirit over man’s inhumanity to man, Nelson Mandela accepted the 1993 Nobel Prize for Peace on behalf of all South Africans who suffered and sacrificed so much to bring peace to that land.

        In the next write-up, I will pick on another freedom fighter that is worthy of emulation.  Keep your fight for freedom on.  Freedom is never free!

WHAT REALLY IS FREEDOM (II)

... continued from a previous post:

 

          In the pursuit of real freedom, you must master yourself in the specific field you know is your life’s goal.  Armed with a broad understanding in that field and moving towards achieving definite goals you have set; your independence both in choice of what you want and finance becomes a reality.  There is no such thing as luck and chance when it comes to being free.  I have always told people both at formal and informal meetings that it is when preparation meets opportunity that success occurs.  With success comes a level of freedom where you can make choices without consulting someone else.

          I will give you a good illustration to drive this point home.  Let us imagine that while you were browsing through the day’s newspaper, you stumbled on an advertisement for the post of a Civil Engineer in one of the construction firms in your city.  If you never read Civil Engineering in your college years, and acquired a degree in that field, no amount of luck can earn you that job even if you apply.  Why?  You were not prepared for that job because you never read that course in school!

          In life, no amount of luck will take you to the top if you have not adequately prepared to get the freedom that abounds in life.  While we were looking at the life of George Best at the beginning of this chapter, it occurred to me that he enjoyed a measure of freedom in his finances and choices (even though the choices were wrong) because he worked on his football talent and took him to the level he got.

          I will close this piece with the story of Diego Armando Maradona.  He is touted as the Best Footballer of all times.  He debuted in professional football in 1975 and played his farewell match in November of 2001.  Throughout a quarter of a century, Maradona influenced a multitude of people including some of the top footballers today.  Parallel to his brilliant skill, the Argentine soccer player has stirred global controversy of unmatched magnitude.  Regardless of his addiction to cocaine, he failed doping tests and his wile on-pitch actions, Diego Maradona is still regarded as the most skillful footballer of all time.  From a technical point of view, Maradona’s match is yet to be born.  He is a complete master of the ball and keeps it under his control at all times, even while running at full speed.

          Maradona exercised unrestricted freedom and fell headlong into drugs and life generally on the fast lane.  Besides his two daughters (Dalma and Giannina) from his former wife, Claudia Villafane; he has a child out of wedlock by the name of Diego Armando Junior from Christiana Sinagra while other women are suing him for child support.

          The question before you now is this:  what kind of freedom do you want?  Real freedom or freedom for self-indulgence that has no responsibilities attached?  The education and knowledge I am advocating you get on your road to real freedom is to ensure the sustainability of your freedom when you eventually get there.  The next chapter presents us with more reasons why freedom is not free…

What really is Freedom?

          You must have heard of one of the best footballers ever to come out of Northern Ireland.  He was George Best.  George Best was simply a legend.  Forget Pele, Maradona, Keegan, Cruyff, Roberto Baggio, Zinedine Zedane, Lionel Messi or all the Ronaldos; ditch Papilo Kanu Nwankwo or Austin Jay-jay Okocha.  George combined everything these had individually, and more.  He was explosive, on and off the ball, could read the game exceptionally and win games single-handedly.  He could dribble past defenders as though they were standing still, and had the balance and swerve of a ballet dancer.  He could tackle as hard as Nobby Stiles, was two footed and could head as powerfully and accurately as much bigger players.  Most of all, George was total entertainment with a ball on a football pitch, who thrilled fans with often unorthodox moves to either score or set up goals.

          George Best was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on May 22, 1946.  He played for his country, Northern Ireland and Manchester United.  He scored 178 goals in 466 appearances for his Old Trafford club, Manchester United and scored 10 goals for Northern Ireland in 37 national caps.

          While enjoying such unparallel success on the field of play, George Best himself confessed that whatever he wanted he got.  He indulged in all forms of worldly pleasures – cars, travels and women.  His life degenerated into alcoholism, bankruptcy, a prison sentence for drink-driving and eventually a controversial liver transplant.  Asked what happened to all the money he had earned, Best replied: “I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars.  The rest I just squandered”.  What did freedom expressed in this manner fetch him?

          His fame and abundant skills indeed fetched him money and got him whatever he wanted.  However, in the twilight of his life leading to his passing away in 2005, George Best was a shadow of himself.  He was a sick man and looked 80 years at the age of 59.  His own father, Dickie, 87 years old, survived him and he died wretched without any virtuous legacy except for eulogies that poured in from virtually everybody who had followed his phenomenal playing career.

          When he passed away, the then British Prime Minister, Tony Blair led tributes to the man he called “probably the most naturally gifted footballer of his generation, one of the greatest footballers the UK has every produced.  Anyone who has seen him as a football fan will never forget it.”  Hiw own Republic of Ireland Prime Minister at the time, Bertie Ahern said “George should be remembered as the very best at what he did.  He was quite simply a  football genius”.  Check out what Sir Bobby Charlton, his former Manchester United team-mate said about him:  “George made an immense contribution to the game, and enriched the lives of everyone that saw him play”.  A minute’s silence was observed at every Premiership football match the weekend of his passing.

          All the success he achieved as a footballer were swallowed up by his unrestricted freedom.  George was the architect of the ill health that killed him.  His indulgence in drugs and alcohol took a heavy toll on his health and the result was death.  Even though his passing was heavily mourned as the entire Irish nation was moved by his death like no other in the life of that nation – the simple fact was that he authored his life to end tragically.

          He thought the freedom money and fame brought him was for him to do whatever pleased him.  He was actually in bondage.  Real freedom emanates from knowing the true meaning of life generally and specifically your own particular purpose for living.  For you to lay claim to freedom, you must start by knowing who you are and what you are supposed to be doing on this earth.  I am not sure George Best ever asked himself this all important question.  If he never asked, it’s possible someone had tried to call his attention to this.  It is also possible that he ignored answering the question because of his warped understanding of what freedom is.  He must have consigned the concept of freedom to mean being at liberty to do whatever you like at any time you want without recourse to the responsibilities such acts were sure to bring.

          George Best had a contemporary in Pele.  Today, Pele is a living legend and a really free man because he knew the responsibilities of freedom and chose the best way to utilize the choices riches and fame brought his way.

          In the boxing world, there are two legends as well.  Mohammed Ali and ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson.  Ali chose responsible freedom while Tyson chose the unrestricted path.  Both are still alive as I write – one is a celebrated icon whining and dining with celebrities and carries with him a grace of notoriety while the other s a struggling man seeking relevance.

          Mike Tyson’s history is pathetic.  At the age of 20, he became a Heavyweight Boxing Champion in 1986.  He was mentored by Italian Manager, Cus D’Amato, who moulded a freakishly sized 12-year-old into a heavyweight contender.  By the time he won the championship, D’Amato had already passed away.  At 22, Tyson’s other longtime associates had either died or been jettisoned as Don King invaded the champion’s life.  But, without trainer Kevin Rooney, who was sacked by Tyson himself, a man who knew the D’Amato formula so well, he began to struggle, culminating in his 1990 loss to James ‘Burster’ Douglas in Tokyo.

          In 1991, one Desiree Washington accused Tyson of rape but people didn’t take the threat seriously, but in February 1992, he was in court and listening to a guilty verdict that ended phase one of his boxing career.  He spent his next three years in jail.  Released in 1995, the former champion returned to the ring.  He reclaimed his championship in a crushing rematch with Frank Bruno.  He was however stopped by Evander Holyfield twice in 1996 and 1997.  Lenox Lewis also demystified him later.

          The fact that this man was not able to control his freedom can be traced to his very unpleasant, lonely and rough background.  At 38, Tyson didn’t know who his father was.  He said: “Sometimes, I don’t know who the hell I am.  My mother said it was Jimmy Kirkpatrick, but my birth certificate says Purcell Tyson.  How embarrassing it was, at 38, to try to get a passport only to find out I don’t know who my father is”.

          Inspite of that, you must realize that it is not what happens to you that matters but what happens in you that counts.  Your background could be rough and hard, but you have a responsibility to turn things around.  The sea could be rough but you can re-direct your sail.  There are many people with very unpleasant foundations but have gone back to lay a better foundation.

          This is how Tyson has passed a verdict on his own life with the following statement:  “I will never be happy.  I believe I’ll die alone.  I would want it that way.  I’ve been a loner all my life with my secrets and pain.  I’m really lost, but I’m trying to find myself.  I’m really a sad, pathetic case.  My whole life has been a waste – I’ve been a failure.”

          He made a statement of fact but he didn’t need to close the chapter on his life.  But that is the frustration that can befall a man who was never prepared for the kind of freedom that people like Tyson got when he became a celebrity.  He could never adjust his personality to the demands of being one of the world’s most famous sportsmen.

          For the avoidance of doubt, there are two major kinds of freedoms.  The first kind which is in common practice is that which you exercise without responsibilities.  I call it playing around with your life while waiting for a sure pay-day.  John C. Maxwell said, if you play today, you will surely pay tomorrow.  It is common sense to pay today so you could play tomorrow.  In other words, your paying today is the responsibility you take to ensure your playing tomorrow which is the real freedom.

          Your real freedom comes when you have properly been schooled to understand and appreciate the virtues of education, acquiring knowledge, developing yourself to reaching your potentials and taking deliberate steps to do what is required in order to achieve your set goals in the light of your ultimate vision.

(.... to be continued)

Write the Vision Down

“… Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.” – Habakkuk 2:2

            A few years ago, I began to realize that if I must move from the level of mediocrity to excellence in my life, there are few things I must not compromise.  One of such few things is the habit of constant reading.  I began to develop a crazy culture of reading and this led me to begin to build a personal library unconsciously.  This realization that a reader is a leader made me to begin to spend about 25% of my monthly income on books of various subjects ranging from leadership, management, biographies, history, motivation to religion.   As I read these books, my worldview began to expand, I began to also get exposed to new levels of knowledge I would otherwise not get from my small circle.  As time went by, my environment began to look small for me to operate – I became restless and my purpose became clearer and people thought I was getting mad when I started practicing at my new level of knowledge which they could not relate to.

            The brief experience I shared above came into being because I came in contact with a host of written materials.  Many of the people I read their books live thousands of miles across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean.

            I was never in contact with them and may never meet some of them in person.  As a matter of fact, some of them are dead yet what they wrote spoke to me and changed my life.  There is power in the written material.

            Many people have a picture of what they want to do in the future but have not yet developed the discipline of writing down what that picture in their mind consists.  A Chinese proverb says “the faintest pen is sharper than the brightest brain”.  The item that is written down except deliberately destroyed or erased has the potential to speak to someone thousands of years after the writer has ceased to exist on planet earth.

            Anytime you write down what you have in mind, it takes a life of its own and it has more power and potential of becoming a reality.  Even Divinity writes down His thoughts.  Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai so God can write the 10 Commandments on the tablets of stone for the children of Israel.  The Bible records that these Commandments on the tablets of stone were written down by God Himself.  If you cannot develop a culture of writing down things, you will not go far in realizing whatever vision it is you have.

            In the quote we have at the head of this chapter, God asked his prophet, Habakkuk to write down the vision he had even so that those who will pursue the vision can have a road-map.  Once writen, a direction is established and a focus is in view.  If you can capture your vision in a written format, the vision is half achieved.  How do you pursue what you cannot constantly see?  What you have written is a living testimony of the dream in your heart.

            In Africa, writing is always seen as a boring activity.  It is the reason why development has been slow in coming to our clime.  We have the tendency to operate without clues.  No road-maps, no guide or governance – just clueless, disorganized lifestyle.  No tangible and reasonable success whether at the personal or corporate levels can be achieved that way.  Write down your vision!

            I challenged my Wednesday class in Church recently to develop individual 10 year plans for themselves and begin to work towards it.  Very few people have an idea of how their lives will end.  It is always because they have no blueprint.  Like I mentioned earlier, we abdicate that responsibility to God and expect things to be dropped on our laps.  Forget it, nothing will fall from the sky that way.  You have to create a platform for such occurrences.  Write down your plan!  It gives you focus and reduces stress.

            With a written plan for a year, for instance, you can say for certain what you need to get done in January; what’s on the card for February and what you should be doing in June.  With such a blueprint, you can have a daily “to-do-list” for how to work towards your monthly goals which should work you up to achieving the annual projections.  Without a plan, you will be rudderless, like a ship without a sailing plan and a pilot without a compass or a flying route – you will be lost in the race of life.

            Can you imagine entering a shopping mall without a shopping list?  Whatever you see becomes interesting to buy.  Why?  You did not establish a focus before you ventured into the mall.

            In our vision orientation practice, if you do not have plans in your life, other people’s plans will influence and dictate how your life will be run.  Written plans make you proactive about running your life – people without plans react to life.  They act only when circumstances trigger them to act.  That is a very frustrating way to live.