Echo of my Mind: Your place in history .. Your footprint in sand of time.


What is your place in history?  Obviously you never can tell until you are gone to the world beyond. Because the real impact is only felt and measured by people we left behind.  Nonetheless, so many people live their life trying to stamp their permanent footprints in the sand of time and working harder to be in favourable mention in history...

No matter who they are and what level of their socio-economic standing, they wanted to be remembered as someone who did his best and whose intention was pure. And they work hard to push their own ideals of legacy into consciousness of the public, even if it means buying people's loyalty or manipulating their minds to believe in ideal they projected.

It is amazing that even among these legacy seekers are those who, the majority of us considered as criminals and unworthy of honorable mention. There are many people who actually care secretly or openly about what others think and mirror their response or apathy toward that inner extrication from their outward deeds.

I am particularly interested in the successful ones.. The great ones, who we considered as heroes, pacesetters and forever immortalised in words, deeds and many aspects by the people that come after them. I found that each and every one of them had antagonists... The oppositions. . The haters... The traducers.. And the betrayers who laboured so hard to bring them down and undermine their efforts. This spreads across every part of human endeavors these people touched. Be it science, religion..Business. . Politics. .. or even within the family.

The hordes of Oppositions and the antagonists competed fiercely to pull down the shining stars and fabricated loads of misinformation, sentiments and propaganda to pull down the doers. They worked as hard to construct their own side of expected history in order to appease the fancy of the prevailing generation.  Some shining stars were pulled down and some succeeded in riding against the storm and history carved for them, a place in its sand of time.

Albert Einstein face opposition to his Relativity Theory and some others. His theory of relativity was held to be the disgraceful product of Jewish science, and utterly without foundation.  They even held a conference in which his theory was criticized by some tame scientists. But he remained focused.  From the day he was born, Jesus haters grew rapidly as they worked doubly hard to extinguish his flame. The Quraesh of Arabia could not swallow the thought of an unknown orphan uprooting their tradition. So they waged wars against him to exterminate him and his followers. They ended up being the catalyst for his success. All great men like Nnamdi Azikwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Nelson Mandela etc all had adversaries who went to great extent destroy them and obliterate their works but in the end history only remember those who worked and not those who antagonized the doers with aim of halting their works.

Out of all these people; we, the people who they called posterity and who they worked so hard to impress so that we may have their names in glorious part of history, remember only those who have made positive impacts and whose works outlive their generation.  On the other hand, the best we could remember their antagonists and self professed oppositions is as villains and historical garbage which we frequently cite to our children to prevent them from walking the part of perdition. The oppositions are the reference points in the book of infamy and objects of derision…
Today, I look all around me and wonder if we ever learn anything. . I look at politics and saw many people who are proud to be called “opposition” and who are gleefully playing the spoiler roles for the doers and potential history makers. I look at some families and see how neglectful they are in raising generation that could become their footprints in the sand of time. I look at workers who entered an organisation and were only remembered for the salaries they drew from the company’s account. . I look at the Devil’s Advocates and fraudsters who are busy robbing the rich and causing upset... I look at the hordes of bloggers who are gossip peddlers invoking and cashing in on public hysteria and wonder if they actually have their thought on being remembered as the spoilers. I look here and there and found that all of them more often than not ended up elevating someone else as hero and ... they spoil businesses for others and at times tried to ruin reputation of those making positive differences, but those strong ones among whom they aimed to harm emerged victorious and made success out of the adversity they encountered. .. and so set their footprint in eternal path of history for generation to come.

As for their traducers ... they are barely mentioned and they hardly make impact beyond their quick and short historical cog in the wheel of progress of others.

Theodore Roosevelt put it succinctly: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

What kind of legacy would you be remembered for?  What kind of footprint will you bequeath the generation unborn? What kind of impact do you have on your organisation that would stand when you are gone?  What kind of children are you raising that would evoke the memory of existence on this planet earth in the mind of those who don't know you but come across the progenies you left behind long after you are gone? Unfortunately for you there is no glory for haters and oppositions. .you have to make your own history or you are etched in eternal mark of shame in spoiler's shadow.


To your success

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