Footprints in the sands of time...
"Lives of great men all remind us
we can make our lives sublime,
and, departing, leave behind us
footprints on the sands of time"
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I came across this quotation while reading one day and it got me thinking. We can all be great men or woman yet we choose not to be. The difference between being great and just mediocre is that great people don't just speak about issues, they act upon their convictions.
We live our lives in seclusion. As I have written before, we tend to keep people out of our personal space. The result of this action is that we live with blinkers on. Unless something affects us personally, we tend to ignore everything else that happens around us. So the cascading effect is that the world becomes more and more unbearable to live in. Crime, abuse, war, sickness and disease pervade our society and we don't do anything about it. We sit at dinner parties, around the coffee areas at the office and we discuss these issues, sometimes with real passion but when we go our separate ways, all the passion and ideas are forgotten.
This is what separates us from the great men and women in history. Martin Luther King spoke about having a dream where all men are born equal. He lived his life determined to right a wrong and made a difference. In South Africa, Steve Biko spoke out against discrimination and the right to decent education for all and not just a small minority and he made a difference. These men did not just speak about it, they did something about it. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life in prison because he believed in his fight for equality, the result? He became the first democratically elected black president of South Africa. He made a difference.
If everyone stopped talking and started doing something about what they saw was wrong, in what they believed; crime, disease, poverty etc would become a distant memory. Human nature prevails and is victorious. There are many people in this world who really care passionately in the plight of their fellow human beings, but only a few who are determined to do something about it and actively work towards making a difference. Religion, race, creed, nationality, should never be a determining factor in whether we do the right thing. These are excuses for those of us who are more comfortable in discussing world, national or local issues around the water-cooler rather than signing up one way or another in doing something about it.
This world we live in is filled with heartache and pain, sickness and disease, poverty and hunger, crime and murder. Many of the issues labeled here are closer to us than we would like to believe. We choose to ignore it as our daily lives are more important. Nothing can stop us from achieving what we set out to do; especially not issues which we believe are any of our concern. WRONG!!!! It is our concern. These issues affect us, if not directly then indirectly. It is time we stopped talking about them but actively doing something about them. It is time we start the walk where we can leave our footprints in the sands of time.
We live our lives in seclusion. As I have written before, we tend to keep people out of our personal space. The result of this action is that we live with blinkers on. Unless something affects us personally, we tend to ignore everything else that happens around us. So the cascading effect is that the world becomes more and more unbearable to live in. Crime, abuse, war, sickness and disease pervade our society and we don't do anything about it. We sit at dinner parties, around the coffee areas at the office and we discuss these issues, sometimes with real passion but when we go our separate ways, all the passion and ideas are forgotten.
This is what separates us from the great men and women in history. Martin Luther King spoke about having a dream where all men are born equal. He lived his life determined to right a wrong and made a difference. In South Africa, Steve Biko spoke out against discrimination and the right to decent education for all and not just a small minority and he made a difference. These men did not just speak about it, they did something about it. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life in prison because he believed in his fight for equality, the result? He became the first democratically elected black president of South Africa. He made a difference.
If everyone stopped talking and started doing something about what they saw was wrong, in what they believed; crime, disease, poverty etc would become a distant memory. Human nature prevails and is victorious. There are many people in this world who really care passionately in the plight of their fellow human beings, but only a few who are determined to do something about it and actively work towards making a difference. Religion, race, creed, nationality, should never be a determining factor in whether we do the right thing. These are excuses for those of us who are more comfortable in discussing world, national or local issues around the water-cooler rather than signing up one way or another in doing something about it.
This world we live in is filled with heartache and pain, sickness and disease, poverty and hunger, crime and murder. Many of the issues labeled here are closer to us than we would like to believe. We choose to ignore it as our daily lives are more important. Nothing can stop us from achieving what we set out to do; especially not issues which we believe are any of our concern. WRONG!!!! It is our concern. These issues affect us, if not directly then indirectly. It is time we stopped talking about them but actively doing something about them. It is time we start the walk where we can leave our footprints in the sands of time.
posted by Sean at 12:38 pm
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