Jessie Owens
In 1936, Jessie Owens came back from the Olympic Games as the world’s fastest man. At a huge press conference, the first question was asked, “How did you do it Jessie? Four Gold medals, you embarrassed Hitler in his own hometown; you are the fastest man in the world…..how did you do it?
“Oh” he said, “I think it all began when I was a kid back in Junior High School. My coach got us together and made a speech I have never forgotten. The main thing he said was that, ‘you can pretty well become whatever you make up your mind to be in life’.
“As a Junior High Kid, I looked up at my coach and shouted ‘coach I have already decided what I want to be! The fastest man in the world! And my coach looked down at me, a skinny, scrawny black boy and said ‘Jessie that’s a great dream. I fact Jessie, I don’t know if I have ever heard such a dream as great as that. There’s only one problem with your dream, Jessie’. ‘What’s that coach?’…the coach replied ‘Dreams have a way of floating high in the sky; they just float up there like clouds and never become realities unless you have the courage to build a ladder to them, one step at a time”. From that moment onwards, Jessie’s life style changed. He started preparing himself and working at making his vision a reality and ten years later, what seemed only a far fetched day dream was brought to reality.
Many Ordinary People and a Few Great Ones
I have often wondered why we have so many small, ordinary and common people in life and only a few great ones. How many times have you heard people say of others “if only we had more like him/her around here, things would have been a lot better” What is it that draws this imaginary line between people? What is it that sets the limits on peoples lives?
I have come to discover that one of the secrets of great people is their vision; their mental picture of their desired future. People are ultimately limited only by the size of their and quality of their vision. People with vision conceive a mental picture of desired goal and set their eyes and mind doggedly to ensure that this picture is brought to reality.
Every great invention ever made, was born out of somebody’s mind; from the deep recesses of the unseen; they saw and believed in the reality of an invisible future or goal at a time when nobody else could. Helen Keller who was blind and deaf was asked “What would be worse than being born blind?” She replied “To have sight without vision”
Disney Land
During the Grand opening of Disneyland; one of most popular theme parks in America, the founder Walt Disney had unfortunately died before the project was completed. Introducing Mrs. Disney during the ceremony the master of ceremony regretfully commented “How we wish Walt could have been here to see the greatest masterpiece of his life being unveiled”. After all the applause at her introduction had died down, Mrs. Disney stood up and marched majestically to the podium and the first words out of her mouth were “Walt did see Disney Land, that’s why it is here today” This is the Power of Vision. We all live under the same sky but we do not all have the same horizon. What separates us at the end of the day will be our mental image of who we are in relation to the things and others around us.
Orville and Wilbur Wright
At the turn of the 18th century an Anglican Bishop intimated to a University Professor that the end of the world must be near because all that could be, have been invented and discovered and he dared the professor to tell him what else remained to be discovered. The Professor gazed at him with wide eyed glee and said “I believe that in fifty years, men would be able to fly” The Bishop retorted “that’s none sense, only angels were intended to fly……..” At that time the Bishop had two boys at home Orville and Wilbur who would prove that they had a greater vision of the future than their father. Just a few years later in 1904, they flew the first airplane.
It is quite difficult for one to grow beyond the limits of their vision of life. Vision sets the limit of people’s achievement in their minds and then they go on achieve this limit.
Two things that have the capacity to affect your vision, positively or negatively; these are perspective and passion:
Vision and Perspective
Having the right Perspective in life simply means that you are able to understand and judge things or events, in their true relationship with other things. It is the ability to think about problems and decisions in a reasonable way without exaggerating or down playing their significant. Two people can be in the same place at the same time and both looking at the same thing and yet see and interpret these things entirely differently. We always see things as we have conditioned our minds to see them. This conditioning comes from our belief system, exposure, life values and experiences. We thus see things not as they are but as we are.
How you process the things you see and hear will affect how you react to them. Someone with a distorted perspective cannot have a constructive or positive vision of his future. He looks around himself and all he sees is just gloom and the impossibilities and obstacles in life that have guaranteed them that they can never succeed in life. Two terms normally employed when talking about perspectives are Optimism and Pessimism. An Optimist looks at all the obstacles and difficulties in life and still believes that something good can come out of the gloom. In the face of closed doors, they look around them, knowing there definitely has to be another open door somewhere; they don’t stop looking until they find this door. A Pessimist is the opposite; they never believe for example that Sierra Leone can still be turned around and redeem its history that we have always been proud of. The interesting thing to note is that we fulfil the prophecy of our perspectives. Those who see a brighter future do not give up on today; they work assiduously to make this a reality. Those who can only see doom, never take any steps to change the status quo. They continue in those actions that guarantees the actualisation of their perspective of life.
Vision and Passion
Passion helps you translate your vision to reality. Translating your vision to reality is a process and not an event; it’s a lifestyle and a continuous process. Many great people started life in the poorest and most humble of homes, with little education and no advantages. Julius Cesar was epileptic; Beethoven and Thomas Edison were deaf; Charles Dickens was lame; Helen Keller was deaf and blind. What gave these individuals the stamina to overcome severe setbacks and become successful? Each had an inner passion that lit a fire which could not be extinguished.
Passion is the fuel that will drive your vision; it causes your dream to become an obsession that determines what you do daily; it forces the required change in life style; it determines who your friends are going to be, … you only want to spend time with those who can contribute to your vision.
Conclusion
What vision do you have of your future? Do you really know what you want to become in life? When you are alone and away from everybody else, what do you dream of becoming? With the right perspective and Passion, you can sustain this picture in your mind and succeed in bringing it to pass.
