“Wood already touched by fire is not hard to set alight.” – Akan proverb
What is the point of success if it cannot light up the world? Imagine a light bulb that cannot give light. It is of no use and hence it must be thrown away. It is the same with success. It is a light to any community.
It is an example of living that shows the path to prosperity. It is a light that illuminates darkness, a certainty that unravels ambiguity and confidence that removes doubts.
Where, before, there was ineptness or inadequacy, success serves as a path of radiance to buoyancy. There if a success is not serving its purpose, it cannot and should not be deemed as such.
Success is equated to light because it takes only a handful of successful individuals and events to change the fortunes of a society. Success illumines enough brilliance to give light to a great many others. Not every being can be successful in everything and not every being will be successful in every venture.
We all have been successful in an event or two at a point in time. What is more important is that we utilize those successful moments to light up the world with our gains and liberation.
All it takes for any society to thrive is for a handful of successful individuals. Like light, success has all the power to reach the maximum corners to remove ruins and disasters. Its speed of travel and it reach of impact goes beyond our imagination.
Hence, it is not the number of successes that counts, but the performance, effect and impression that counts.
Life is an artwork in progress. Success exemplifies a means through which many are empowered to become the best that they can be. It has an obligation to empower society.
Therefore, its words and actions, its choices and decisions should not be based on how the individual behind it feels; rather it should be based on what has to be done in order for society to thrive.
Regardless of the gloom that shades any society, the successful individual therein become the face of hope and his or her duty is to light up and liven the optimisms of the masses.
Contained within success are creative talents and capabilities, vim and vigour; that can light and spice up any society by providing remedies and activities that will break the vicious circle of hate, antagonism, mediocrity, poverty and sickness in that environment.
The object of success is to be used to restore love, goodness and confidence to every single individual and society as whole by ensuring opportunities for prosperity and peace abounds everywhere and at every time.
No matter the field in which success is chalked, it behooves on us to appreciate and study it to gain the utmost understanding that would inspire and echo it replication and prosperity in society.
The experience of success exposes us to newness. The purpose is to renew us so that we would also renew others.
The dynamism of this newness makes us stronger than steel and yet more flexible than yarn. It enables us to become more reflexive and responsive to serving others. We are talking about a new attitude – an attitude of stewardship.
This stewardship implies that we must shine in this world like stars lighting up the sky. To do that, we must set aside our pride, self-glorification; and instead delight in lifting others up.
That way, our words and actions become fruitful enough to rekindle other people’s aspirations and strengthen their courage to undertake any venture of their choosing. It fulfills the saying, “as we let our lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do same.”
There are many successful individuals out there who have the light inside them, and yet they refuse to light up the world.
They have what it takes to make a positive difference and yet they drag our feet. They want someone and somebody else to light a spark before they fuel it. They have become like dead wood.
The question we need to ask ourselves is; how often are lives livened and society enlightened because of our words and actions? Scriptures tell us that it is not wise to hide our lights under a bowl, and history has proved this.
Let us therefore strive to purge ourselves of the hurdles and egotism that prevents us from lighting up the world. Let us always seek flavour our environments with hope and enlighten it with inspiration.
Everything in our lives can be a path to success. As we strive in our strife, we should let our hearts, souls and voices inspire and echo peace, prudence, courage, compassion, justice, and temperance throughout the world.
And not only would we be doing our society a lot of good, but we would be flavouring life through our attitudinal showing of joyful and serene optimism.
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Kodwo Brumpon is an executive coach at Polygon Oval, a forward-thinking Pan African management consultancy and social impact firm driven by data analytics, with a focus on understanding the extraordinary potential and needs of organisations and businesses to help them cultivate synergies, that catapults into their strategic growth, and certifies their sustainability.
Comments, suggestions, and requests for talks and training should be sent to him at [email protected]
