Who are you not to be great? -Make Your Dreams Count
“Your Playing Small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?”
Nelson Mandela
A story is told of three young men who imagined themselves living a great life. Idling in the hood, one asked his friends, “Can you imagine what would happen if you woke up a millionaire? Just like that!” With excitement, his friends answered on how they would live, build empires, and be fulfilled. They continued imagining, what would happen if a stranger miraculously gave them a suitcase full of dollars in millions. They built their castles in the air, day in day out. But as you can guess, their dreams stopped at that, millions didn’t bump into them.
Dreams don’t care. The rich dream, the poor also dream; every human being dreams. It is whether or not we chase our dreams that counts. Imagination is part of dreaming, but people don’t see our imaginations. Our dreams do not display on our foreheads; people see the results. People can only guess our intentions based on our deeds. It is therefore not enough to wish; we must do something to make the wishes come to pass. It is said that for our dreams to come true, we have to wake up from slumber and start chasing after them. It is the only way out. Actions! Creating it. Bringing to birth.
Like the proverbial young men above, most of us end at dreaming. They never asked themselves how they could work to get the millions, or where millions came from in the first place. We have big dreams yes, but what must we do to realize them?
Looking at all great personalities the world has ever known, we see dreamers who gave their all to chase their dreams regardless of their background. If dreams cared about our background, Barack Obama would not have been the president of America. Our late professor Wangari Maathai would not have won the Nobel Peace Prize. From Nelson Mandela to Bill gates and the list is endless, we learn that there is no limit to what we can achieve in life.
It doesn’t matter where we are from or our qualifications. If we can dream, then we can achieve greatness. As the adage goes however, nothing comes on a silver platter without working for it.
Greatness all the way. Dreams don’t care and Impossible is Nothing!
By Elizabeth Ekakoro: Diaspora Messenger contributor
