2013 ~ Raw Talk

So I happened to observe my colleague reading an article one day and I got interested. Minutes later into reading it, I was practically absorbed into that state of deep thoughts about some decisions I'd made. I made a request to speak with the author so I could publish it here. Few mails later, below is the wonderful article by our guest writer, Opeoluwa! Enjoy...

You are justified by what you see, how you believed in it and the fact that you worked towards it. You are justified by what you become; for the just shall live by faith.

Paulo Coelho said “Man improves himself as he follows his path, if he stands still waiting to improve before making a decision, he’ll never move.”

Everything that is ever fashioned into reality in this life, in Asia, America, Africa, Australia, Bayelsa, Maiduguri, Oyo town, Onitsha was conceived through the mind. The mind, as I have come to see it is a very powerful machine. The mind has eyes, it has legs, hands, and it is the whole body in itself. Everything that has ever been conceived and became reality is because the mind was able to process and carry it into the physical.

In this world of 7 billion travellers, based on the order of life as a journey, I have distinguished people into 6 categories:

The Runners
The Strollers
The Sitters
The gist-ers
The intersection dwellers
The bus stop dwellers

Unfashionable as these names may sound, I will like you to pretend like you like them so that we can flow together. Imagine if everyone was divided into this category before they were born, and they were born with the category written on their forehead, then there would be no sweats, everyone would just understand why everyone behave the way they do, and we won’t have to bother why some people act serious and some act otherwise. But this is just an imagination, as we don’t determine our purpose, we only discover it.

Since this is not an option, we have an obligation to discover what God has manufactured us to do and then we do it. So let’s look at these categories.

1. The Runners: They have a sense of urgency. This category knows that life is not stagnant. They are people who have gotten themselves aware of the other categories of people and have made up their minds not to belong there. They always wear a watch (not a physical wrist watch), to remind themselves that they can’t afford to get lost in the crowd. They are people who surround themselves with good people, friends and mentors and still know when to make decisions with or without this people. Frankly, this people have seen where they are going! They have seen the big picture; as such have put their minds to work and their hands and feet to motion. They have realised that the journey of life is within and have learnt to conquer that self. Don’t get me wrong, they are not perfect; they make mistakes, but choose not to see mistakes but lessons that they learn from and become better. They have a sense of urgency and so embrace ideas earlier than most.

2. The Strollers: The people in this category have worked a little to have an idea of what it is to discover and work it out through life. But afterwards, they end there. So they decide to take casual strolls through life, believing they have all the time in the world. Tomorrow will never come they think, not knowing that the ability to contemplate that thought is a signal that adulthood is already knocking at the door of their lives! Nothing is urgent to them so they take their time with everything. And at age 60, they have only been able to achieve what they should have achieved when they were 40. They say they know what they are doing, which is half true and half ignorance because they act as though there is always time.

3. The Sitters: The people in here are not just sitting down; even life sits on their heads. They are mostly unhappy, disconsolate and feel conquered by their environment and everything. They don’t believe they can succeed, as they have given up on trying. Aspiration level is negative (i.e. below zero). When they fail, they don’t try to learn, instead, they pick up quarrels with people around them and look for whom to blame for their failures. They blame everybody. They blame the past in their parents. They blame the present in Government. And they blame the future in their mates. Everyone is to blame except themselves. They have indirectly given up on the ability to hope, saying to themselves “that they are only being realistic”.

They have lost sight of purpose and don’t remember that by divine arrangement, they were born in this time and in this place. They forget that it may be tough going, but with life’s difficulties comes patience, strength of character, virtue and nobility. They don’t realize that without difficulties, they cannot learn patience and endurance. Without difficulties we cannot learn faith. And no man has yet possessed the future without faith. Without faith, we lack the ability to hope, without hope; they get tired of trying, and remain stagnant sitting in a spot.

4. The gist-ers: This people have walked up and down the earth but never been able to bring their minds to comprehend what they are doing. They have no just cause for anything they do. They just do things. This people, because of their busybody have seen a lot but done nothing. And so to compensate for this, they tell tales higher than a skyscraper. They are good analysts on every subject, from football to business to politics, but they are beneficiaries of nothing. They know everybody but nobody will put faith in them. They are good argumentators, they have facts, they have figures, but that’s all they do with it; gist it off. They console themselves in the pride that they have the knowledge. But what is knowledge without use?

5. The intersection dwellers: This people have refused to move because they do not want to pay the cost of achievement. They have contemplated what it would take to achieve and just gave up! They are good calculators as they can extrapolate anything, but that’s all for them. They disembarked before embarking on the bus! Their faith fails because they started off with the little God gave them but in the cause of their integrating and differentiating, they stopped growing it, they just got to one intersection and decided not to move.

6. The bus stop dwellers: you don’t want to be in the same bus with this people, aside from the fact that they like bus stops, they also slow down the pace of others around them. They are the type of people that find fault in everything. They can move so fast atimes, but quickly loose speed again.

If this people were to be in the category of the seed-sower parable that Jesus taught in the scriptures, they are the ones that fall on the rock. They enter one bus this moment, get to the nearest bus stop, they get off the bus, then stay at the bus stop to look at every passerby and vehicles passing. They really don’t have a definite destination not because they don’t have an idea of where they are headed, but they haven’t equipped themselves well enough and easily get distracted by every bus stop. They waste too much time on little things. These category have no solid convictions for the actions they take, so everything seems interesting to do and look at. They are often good friends with the gist-ers.

You may consider yourself a mixture of all or some of this, but remember that the story of your life is an inspiration to the generation after you. Do not quit! Find the reason for your creation and fulfil it!

More grace to the man who desires it.

With Faith and Assurance,

Opeoluwa Odeyemi.