IT'S A BIG DEAL

NOVEMBER 13, 2010. Myanmar’s pro-democracy opposition leader and human rights activist Aung San Su Kyi regained her freedom after seven continuous years under house arrest. Twenty-one years leading up to that time, Su Kyi had spent fifteen years of her life under house arrest. A couple of days after her release, I got the chance to watch an interview she granted the BBC. I must admit that the entire interview was very insightful and inspiring but a particular line struck me. The interviewer asked her, “How does it feel to be free again after seven years?” Her response captured what I consider to be imperative for human development and progress. She remarked, “I have always felt free because I had my books and I could listen to the BBC and read.”

What?! Seven years under house arrest and she always felt free? How is that possible? For Su Kyi, that was possible because she had access to knowledge and information – she could read her books and listen to the BBC. If you are exposed to relevant knowledge and information, you will never feel confined or limited in life. The way to rise above your limitation is to step up your knowledge base. If you want to progress beyond the current level of your life, then extending the boundaries of your knowledge is not an option. It is a must. You must give the acquisition and usage of knowledge an elevated position in your life. Your ignorance limits your horizon. You cannot progress beyond what you know.

So, if you are not learning, then you are limiting yourself. You cannot move beyond your current location to harness the boundless opportunities that exist in the world. As a matter of fact, before you can take advantage of any opportunity, you have to know about it. Then, you have to know what is needed to nib it in the bud. You see! If you don’t know, you can’t pursue.

Thus in today’s world, what you know and what you don’t know is a real BIG DEAL. You cannot achieve beyond the level of your knowledge. The reason you are behind is the information you don’t have. And it will take relevant knowledge to leap you from the back to the front. If you see yourself to be in front, it’s because you possess some knowledge that those behind don’t have. You must constantly update your knowledge to keep leading.

So, what constitutes your knowledge base? Four components – Information, insight, observation and experience.
1. Information. Each day of our lives, somebody tells us something, either directly or indirectly. We hear stuff from our family members, our friends, colleagues at work and mates in the classroom. We listen to the news, we read statements by politicians and journalists, and our pastors preach to us. When somebody tells you something, what you hear becomes part of what you know. Information is the knowledge we have in our heads. It refers to facts we have accumulated about phenomena, persons or places. It doesn’t matter what you believe. Once something is in your brain, it’s information; even if you’ve not seen any evidence.

2. Insight. Insight takes you deeper into what you already know. It processes information you already have and gives you understanding. Insight is the ability to see; except that you see not just with your natural eyes but with your mind’s eye as well. Seeing with your mind’s eye involves prying the surface to unravel the hidden meaning of an idea or concept. You do that by asking why, how, what, who, when and/or where. When you see something with your mind’s eye, it gives you understanding and helps you to establish a conviction. It carves your perspective.

3. Observation. When you look around, what do you see? What impression do you get? What ideas come to your mind? Do you get any inspiration? Things that happen around us can draw our minds to issues and phenomena we might never have considered. They open our eyes to opportunities we must harness and challenges to confront. You must not be in a place and close your eyes to things happening around. Be alert to your environment.

4. Experience. I was chilled when CNN named Anuradha Koirala as CNN Hero of the Year 2010. At age 9 or 10 (she’s not so sure), Koirala had been a victim of abuse and violence in a bad marriage. She managed to disentagle herself from the relationship and subsequently began a programme to rehabilitate girls and women who had been victims of trafficking, sexual molestation and abuse. Koirala's adverse experience has become her platform for engagement in life. It was in recognition of her commitment to expunging child trafficking and abuse that CNN acknowledged her as a hero. Experiences are real. It’s important that we don’t take our experiences for granted. They constitute an essential segment of our knowledge base. Let Anuradha Koirala be your hero too; let your experience build your knowledge package and inform your engagement in life.

THE educated or knowledgeable are people who pack information, open it up with their senses of perception and understanding and relate such knowledge with what is happening around them. Ultimately, such people test their knowledge through experience and application to their day-to-day endeavours.

© 2011 Terry Mante
Accra, Ghana

SPIRITUAL CAPITAL

IN Africa and many parts of the world, anything with the word ‘spirit’ or ‘spiritual’ must be about some mystic force beyond the realm of human grasp. To some people it’s a set of ritualistic deeds captured in a frame called religion. But I have come to discover that spirituality is neither about religion nor some mystic powers. Spirituality is you; your innermost self, the real you. It is the centre of your life; the place where everything emanates from. Your spirituality makes a definite statement of who you are and clarifies the existential questions of life. Who am I? Why do I exist? What is my mission on earth? What is the meaning of life? Is there life after death? What kind of person am I? A clear understanding of these issues will converge to constitute your spiritual capital.

THE COMMITMENT OF YOUR LIFE: MISSION
I HAVE often wondered, “Am I just to get an education, get a job, marry someone pretty, have kids, grand kids, grow old and die?” If all I strive to accomplish will land me in death, then why do I work so hard? Is that all life is about? There must be something more compelling and significant than that. I don’t believe that God would create such a complex being as man to just come and wander on earth and go.
Every human life on earth has been tied to something specific. Each person is uniquely shaped to make a specific contribution to the world. That’s why every single person has a unique DNA, differentiated fingerprint, exact voice structure and many other features that are specific to them and is not duplicated in any single person. This implies that throughout the course of human history, there has never been anybody, there is nobody and there will never be anybody like you. You might resemble somebody else but you two are never the same.
This quintessential uniqueness of every human being implies that there is something specific that each of us is created to do. If you fail to live up to it, your life on earth would have been a worthless experience. Any person who recognises this will gain fulfilment and inner peace. The quest for a meaningful life would be reached when you discover what your mission on earth is and decide to harness it.

THE CHARACTER OF YOUR HEART: INTEGRITY
CHARACTER is what you do when nobody sees you. It is what you say that nobody hears. It is the difference between what people think of you and what you think of yourself. It is the difference between what you say to everybody and what you say to yourself; the difference between your public life and your private life. A person with low regard for character is a consistent adherent to the eleventh commandment; “Thou shall not be caught.” Do you cross the red light when the police are not watching? What are the movies you watch when you are alone? If being caught will embarrass you, then you have a character deficit. If you are concerned about being caught, reassess what you are doing and clean yourself up. The value of your human capital will always rise or fall to equate your character.

THE CONVICTION OF YOUR SPIRIT: FAITH
FAITH is firm assurance and belief based on spiritual conviction rather than physical evidence. It is what you hold on to when everything around you crumbles. It is that which will remain standing within you when the world around you collapses. Faith is not a matter of religion. It is an issue of insurance. It’s a belief in God’s power to create, redeem and restore. For me, it is characterized by a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and absolute commitment to His person, principles and power. This gives you stability and resilience.
A person of faith experiences a meaningful life. I share ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s view that “The meaning of life cannot be explained by science.” It is faith that does. When you don’t know what to do, your faith will direct you. When you are down, your faith will lift you up. When you are discouraged, your faith will encourage you. When everybody doubts you, your faith will make you believe in yourself.
SPIRITUAL capital is a non-negotiable. As we walk through life, it’s important that we walk with purpose, integrity and faith. These are the values that will stand the test of time. They will prevail in all situations of life. As you build your life, don’t neglect the accumulation of spiritual capital.

© 2011 Terry Mante
Accra, Ghana

THREE SENSES OF SIGHT

FOR many people, sitting under an apple tree could be a refreshing and relaxing experience especially when the weather is so cool and the breeze is just flowing. For Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), it was more than a relaxing moment. It was a seeing experience. The English scientist is known for the discovery of gravitation, invention of calculus and the formulation of the laws of motion. It is said that one day while sitting under an apple tree, an apple fruit fell from the tree. When this happened, Newton saw it not only with his eyes but he went beyond his eye sight to see it with his mind. After several rounds of enquiry, he discovered gravitational force which helps us to understand the pulling power of the earth on objects near or on its surface.

When you see with your mind, you gain clarity into the situations of your life. Seeing with your mind is more important than seeing with your eyes. What you see with your mind shapes your perception and determines your approach to life. Without mind sight, eye sight doesn’t mean much. Mind sight occurs in three directions: hindsight, insight and foresight.

HINDSIGHT
IN MY high school days at St Peter’s Secondary School in the mountain-top town of Nkwatia-Kwahu in the Eastern Region of Ghana, I was quite instrumental in the formation of the school’s Debate Club. My active involvement earned me the club’s presidency when the lead person was elected assistant senior prefect. I had always been reluctant and uncomfortable about making speeches in front of people. But then as president of the debate club, I had to be seen not just as a good public speaker but also as an effective debater. This put me under a bit of pressure. But I rose up and worked on my verbal skills and added a reasonable dose of confidence. In the end I became one of the topmost debaters in the school and even led a team to win a debate against one of the top schools in the Central Region of Ghana.

Today when I address young people in senior high schools on how to develop their confidence, I encourage them to “Join the debate club. It will help you to be confident and make you an effective speaker.” Clearly, this advice is informed by my experience with the St Peter’s Debate Club. This is the benefit of hindsight. Hindsight helps you to evaluate where you have been. It helps us to take an inventory of our past, gain clarity and make informed decisions today.

Hindsight is about looking back. Looking back helps you to know where you have been and how you got to where you are. But note that you don’t look back to go back. You look back to gain insight so you can arrange and/or rearrange yourself to move forward.

INSIGHT
A NEWLY-MARRIED couple rather got their marriage started on a bumpy note when the husband’s sausage delicacy got between them. The man did not want the sausage to be chopped when it was used to prepare meals. But the woman would often say, “that’s how my mum did it.” So the man decided to embark on an expedition. He visited the mother-in-law to seek some explanation. Like her daughter she too said, “I learnt it from my mum.” Later on the man got to meet the wife’s grand mum and when he asked her about the sausage-chopping tradition, she offered what I consider to be a logical and incisive explanation. She explained that in their time, the utensils for cooking were not wide enough to contain whole pieces of sausage so they had to chop them before they could use them to prepare meals. What a relief for the man!

Insight is the ability to see into or inside a situation, an experience or a person. Insight is about clarity of perception and perspective. It’s about how you understand issues and interpret them. Both the wife and her mother did not have insight. They saw how their mothers used sausage to cook with their eyes but not with their minds. If you have insight, you will have order and meaning in your life; you will have relevance.

FORESIGHT
YOU cannot go to a place you do not see. Martin Luther King saw that there could be a world where skin colour would not be a basis for stratification. When he perceived this in the 1960s, many people doubted and opposed him to the extent that he was assassinated for proclaiming the “invisible.” In the course of time people like Jesse Jackson, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Barack Obama have vindicated him. These people, in spite of being black have risen to the highest echelons of American politics and they are among the most influential people not only in the US but in the world at large.

Foresight is the ability to see ahead and move ahead. In this world those who have foresight are those who get ahead. Always remember the words of American author John Maxwell, “Only those who can see the invisible can do the impossible.” If you can see ahead, you can get ahead.

© 2011 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana