Nonsense can make sense; Don't give up your dream.

From the diamond desk of                        
I. C. Clinton                                                                   

A cure for poverty of the mind and the pocket

Subject: One favor you owe yourself.

“Eli Whitney was laughed at when he showed his cotton gin. Edison had to install his electric light free of charge in an office building before anyone would even look at it. The first sewing machine was smashed to pieces by a Boston mob. People scoffed at the idea of railroads. People thought that traveling thirty miles an hour would stop the circulation of the blood. Morse had to plead before ten Congresses before they would even look at his telegraph” -- Anonymous. 

Yet for all these men rejection made no difference; for in the long run they realized their dreams. “Beware of those who stand aloof and greet each venture with reproof; the world would stop if things were run by men who say ‘It can’t be done’” – Samuel Glover. 

The greatest tragedy of the 21^st century is the legalization of instant noodle philosophy and exaltation of fast food mentality. We quit too soon. Our generation lacks the patience to wait for eggs to cook, so they eat them raw and afterwards complain of stomach upset. Our present world is full of people whose most rehearsed line of language is “It can’t be done; it’s not possible.” May Heaven save us from such people! What our world lacks in quantum are people who believe in themselves and believe in others; people who are not deceived by what the ordinary eyes can see: men and women who understand that “whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, man can achieve.” Most of us are surrounded by people who encourage us to quit instead of persisting. They inspire us to do the opposite of believing and motivate us to do the opposite of daring. Unfortunately, we often allow ourselves to be guided by the negative doctrines of these people. We allow them to influence us. They make us forget easily that the things we once believed were possible eventually became a reality because we tried them and wouldn’t stop trying till we had actualized them through persistent action. Yes, when we were children we believed many things were possible and achievable. And over time we achieved a lot of feats. As children we start out believing in ourselves and that we can do anything, until our society tries hard to educate us out of our “delusion”. A baby often dreams of talking, walking, and even running. The first time a baby tries to take his first baby step, he falls, but each failure turns out to be an invitation to try again and not a ‘stop sign’ to prevent him from daring to try and persist in his attempts to walk till it works out for him. Unfortunately, it seems that when we grow into adults our society tries hard to erase the words ‘daring’ and ‘persistence’ from our dictionary.  They try to teach us that we cannot do things except what has already been done by other people, or what other people teach us to do. They talk us out of trying. They call our ideas “crazy” and “a waste of time”. They call us unrealistic when we dare to dream. But I have heard with one ear that “Nothing significant was ever achieved by a realistic person.”  You see? They are dream killers; they don’t want you to achieve anything significant because they have insignificant faith in themselves and in what creative and daring minds know is possible. So next time somebody tells you “it’s impossible,” don’t listen to him, because what he wants to do is to steal away your freedom to choose and to become what you want to be. If he tells you it is too risky, thank him for his concern and proceed with what you believe in. If he tries to hold you back, dismiss him with this line: I don’t want to burn the bridges of opportunity before I get to them. I am told that’s what an overcautious person does. Overcautious! That’s one of the things they teach us to be. They want to frustrate you and stop you from moving on with your dream.

Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner. – Lao Tzu.

Now you know! They want to make you a prisoner of their unbelief. But you can break that spell of inertia they have cast upon you, if you are a victim already. “All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail” – Dorthea Brand. You heard that right, didn’t you? Act now! It doesn’t matter how many times you have to try…. if you have an idea, nurse it to maturity and develop it into a usable product or service; if you have a dream, work on it till it becomes a reality; if you have a plan, implement it. Keep working on whatever it is you have set out to accomplish. Don’t give up your dream; keep dreaming. Don’t give up your idea if you strongly believe in it; keep fine-tuning it till it becomes feasible.  Don’t quit trying; keep trying. Dr. JA Homes said, “Never tell a young person that something cannot be done. God may have been waiting for centuries for somebody ignorant enough of the impossible to do that thing.” And Mason remarked, “You will find that great leaders are rarely “realistic” by other people’s standards.”  So, avoid the pessimist’s scale, use an optimist’s instead. 

“The world would always give you the opportunity to quit, but only the world would call quitting an opportunity” – Clint Brown. 

If you want to accomplish something worthwhile in life, be like the stone cutter. Jacob Riis says, “Look at the stone cutter hammering away at the rock, perhaps 100 times without as much as a crack showing on it. Yet at the 101^st blow it will split in two and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” Whatever you want to accomplish in life will require persistence. Persistent people begin their success where most others quit, says John Mason. How true is that? Let’s see:

"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to see realized. But my Lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

Those resounding words were spoken in a South African courtroom in 1964 by Nelson Mandela, while on trial for plotting to overthrow the country’s all-white apartheid government. He later received a life sentence. And at one time, U.S. government reportedly branded him a ‘terrorist’ and left him on her watch list for many years. But after about 27 years of incarceration, he walked out a free man, and on May 10, 1994, was inaugurated South Africa’s first democratically elected president amidst wild jubilations. As president, Mandela presided over a free South Africa where both whites and blacks re citizens of equal standing. And when he finally died at good ripe old age in 2013, the entire world mourned his death and praised his life and the dream he cherished, fought for, and perhaps, died for. More than 50 world leaders, including US president, Barack Obama, attended his funeral and extoled the virtues of purposeful leadership, patience and perseverance, which were the hallmarks of Mandela’s life.

H.E. Jansen said, “The man who wins may have been counted out many times, but he didn’t hear the referee.” And John Mason wrote, “Find a way to, not a way not to.”

 

Mandela became a living legend, and in death, a darling of both friends and foes alike, because he didn’t give up his dream when the world urged him to. Not even a six feet wide and two feet thick concrete walls of a prison cell could stop him! He ignored those who urged him to quit. He instead stood his ground and taught the world a new way of doing things. He taught the world a new sense – a sense of purpose and pride in one’s color and culture. He was able to do that and win the world over to his way of thinking because he believed enough in his dream and his ability to achieve it and, therefore, refused to allow anyone steal his real freedom from him – the freedom to choose, the freedom to do what he wanted to do to become what he believed he could be. Martin Luther King, Jnr. said, “If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” Truth is, if you are prepared to die for your dream, you will dare to actualize it and, you will live to see it happen. Learn from Mandiba! 

Learn to turn a deaf ear to ridicule

The world always will have a place for people who know how to handle rejection and ridicule. Thomas Edison who remains one of the greatest inventors the world has ever known was considered to be a ‘dull’ student by his teacher, the reverend G. B. Engle. According to the story, the teacher whipped students who asked too many questions. After three months of school, the teacher called Edison “addled,” which means ‘confused’ or ‘mixed up’. But Thomas had a wise mother. Nancy Edison took her inquisitive son out of a negative environment that had the potential to impede his development. And what happened afterwards? The boy whom the teacher wrote off became the man who gave the world some of the best inventions that still amazes us today and yet helps us to lead easier and better lives. Isn’t questioning another word for research? I wonder what Scientists would achieve without research! “The important thing is to not stop questioning. Never lose a holy curiosity.” – A. Einstein.

If you win the war against the wild wolves, don’t lose the battle to the domestic lion 

That’s right! It happens too often that after we defeat the doubters outside, we get defeated by the Thomas living in us. You must not let this happen to you. “The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants in life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible” – Richard DeVos. You must teach yourself to believe in yourself. Mind the type of things you tell yourself in the privacy of your own heart. If you will teach your heart to pronounce ‘impossible’ without the first two letters of the word, everything will become possible for you. Make it a priority to teach your heart this habit till it becomes second nature. The next thing you should to is, do something about your dream and, don’t quit till you succeed. 

The treasures of this world belong to the bold and determined

There is a story about Frederick Smith, the founder of Federal Express (now FedEx). I don’t know how true, but it says that his college professor at Yale didn’t fancy the paper he wrote for an economic class outlining overnight delivery service in a computer information age. However, it is believed that the paper became the idea of FedEx, and this one is believable because, according to factual reports, for years the sample package displayed in the company’s print advertisement featured a return address at Yale University.  The amazing thing is that Frederick Smith who was crippled by bone disease as a small boy but regained his health by age 10, before becoming an excellent football player and learning to fly at 15, didn’t give up the idea he conceived while at Yale because his professor didn’t think he deserved an A for such a brilliant idea; for after receiving his Bachelor’s degree in economics in 1966, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, and after his service (which spanned years), on June 18, 1971, he founded Federal Express. And we all know how successful FedEx is today.  “I am a big fan of dreams. Unfortunately, dreams are the first casualty in life – people seem to give them up quicker than anything for a ‘reality’” – Kevin Costner. You never know, your dream can be the next big thing. If it’s nonsense today, it is only so because no one has made sense of it yet. If you are the one destined to make sense of ‘it’ and teach the world the ‘new sense’, go ahead and do it; don’t give up your dream! 

Until next time.

Your man,

- I. C. Clinton