There is one particular dilemma that keeps haunting me “finding a balance between the “ideal” and the “reality”. The ideal appears “unattainable” while the reality is a “no-go area”. If by any chance, we experience the “ideal” in our minds and face the “reality”, there is a confliction and consequently a constraint that hinders most people from moving forward. Hence, we live in two worlds that numerous people on earth find difficult to reconcile together; contribution and significance.
Everyone is motivated by either two of these elements; we want to attain significance (economic, political and social) or we want to contribute (give to the poor, fight for the oppressed, open the eyes of the blind, etc.) Since we are (consciously or unconsciously) finding fulfillment in whatever we venture in, we are conflicted on which particular path to take; we do not want to contribute and miss out on the significance and we do not want significance without feeling guilty of not contributing.
My role in my undergraduate days was more inclined to contribution; help out in what capacity I could in the Christian Fellowship either teaching newly intakes a subject for free or pastoring a hall. Since I did this for 4 years, it sort of shaped my paradigm that it became easy for me to contribute when I left the four walls of the university. Till date, I still feel a pang of guilt if my inclination is more towards significance than contribution.
These two elements are not mutually exclusive: However, I have noticed two very important schools of thought on this matter; while some feel that you cannot be truly significant without contributing e.g. Mohammed Yunus founded one of the biggest bank in East Asia (Grameen Bank) through contributing, others feel you need significance to contribute e.g. Bill Gates after his economic significance with Microsoft decided to contribute fully to humanity.
I would not attempt to hide my bias towards “Contributing to Significance” paradigm because most of my heroes contributed to significance (e.g. Bishop David Oyedepo) and not to mention my undergraduate Christian Fellowship background but we must understand that habits are difficult to break; this is the problem I have with “Significance to Contributing” paradigm e.g. IBB with all his economic and social power believes he has to gain political power to create a positive change in Nigeria.
In Proverbs 31, a mother advise his son, King Lemuel, on the difficulty of contributing when significance has been obtained; she made him understand the vices and the challenges that someone who has reached significance face when they try to contribute; this reminds me of the adage “you cannot really know someone unless he is given power”. The two vices associated with power (as mentioned by King Lemuel’s mom) are Women and Alcohol.
Women and Alcohol are symbolic of distractions that come with power and are a travesty to the help that God promises us: Instead of the Holy Spirit, some men subscribe to Alcohol and instead of a Virtuous Woman, some men subscribe to women. Knowing the distinction between the substance and the shadow is vital to being a virtuous man. Is there really a man on this earth that contributes without seeking for significance: What do you think? I guess I will continue next week; have a lovely week!
