INSPIRATION | TOUCHING LIVES II |

Posted by : Dele Agbogun Posted date : February 1, 2014 In Marriage 0

This is a sequel to the last published article and the conclusion. The focus still remains making a difference in your world through lives touched by you. The philosophy of “Being before doing” holds true, you cannot give what you don’t have. I strongly pray that this will move you from not doing anything to doing something and from doing something to doing greater things. The ultimate objective is to make a difference through your acts.
I read an article by United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. It estimated that nearly 870 million people of the 7.1 billion people in the world, or one in eight, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2010-2012. Almost all the hungry people, 852 million, live in developing countries, representing 15 percent of the population of developing counties. There are 16 million people undernourished in developed countries.

I realised that the higher the percentage, the more the consequences on a locality, community, nation or the world. The following are some of the offshoots of the increasing rate;

1. Increase in crime rate.
2. Depreciation in infrastructure.
3. Increase in poverty rate.
4. Continuous drop in the quality of education.
5. Gradual extinction of value for human life.
6. Breeding hurtful and bitter generation.
7. Gradual extinction of love among people.
8. Stunted development of the environment.
9. Negative impact on the family.

You don’t necessarily need to have everything before you can make a difference in your world. One little touch of help over time results in greater impact. The touch could come in form of sponsorship of skill acquisition, colleges and universities education, mentoring, assisting in business set up etc. This impact will avert some of the above stated consequences.

When you fail to play your role in life, you will deny others the opportunity to play theirs. I once read the story of a man who got lost in the desert. After wandering around for a long time his throat became very dry. About that time he saw a little shed in the distance. So he made his way over to the shed and found a water pump with a small jug of water and a note. The note read: “Pour all the water into the top of the pump to prime it; if you do this you will get all the water you need.” Now the man had a choice to make, if he trusted the note and poured the water in it and it worked, he would have all the water he needed. If it didn’t work he would still be thirsty and he might die. Or he could choose to drink the water in the jug and get immediate satisfaction, but it might not be enough and he might still die.

After thinking about it the man decided to risk it. He poured the entire jug into the pump and began to work the handle. At first nothing seemed to happen and he got a little scared, but he kept pumping and finally water started coming out. So much water came out that he drank all he wanted, took a shower, and filled all the containers he could find. The note that he had found by the pump said, “After you have finished, please refill the jug for the next traveller.” So the man refilled the jug and added this to the note: “Please prime the pump; believe me it works!”

When you remember that your survival is not the only reason for your existence, you will take your thinking and sensitivity some notches higher to include other people in the picture you hold.

If there was nothing for the traveller to use for the priming, he would have died. At the same time, if he was greedy not to make some available, it would have been the end for another person. We can literarily say that you are a door that opens doors for others. Opening that door might sound risky like the traveller hesitated for a while before he carried out the instruction.

There are people who are in positions to positively impact their immediate community; however, a lot of these people have failed to act out their scripts in the global scheme of life; due to selfishness, greed, fear of the future, insecurity and past hurts. It doesn’t matter if you are the head of your family or the CEO of a multinational, we all have our different scripts to act out and we are all set to fit together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Taking this route will make your life a reference and inspiration for many to emulate.
Touching lives entails lending a helping hand. Lending a helping hand require your freedom from insensitivity, self-centredness and greed.

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