Passion for Impact

Organised by jcin Wukari. Trainer: Enyinnaya Iroadumba

Hi everyone
I am made to understand that am to speak on; Passion For Impact.
A quite interesting topic.
Let me start by saying that we live in a privilege time or era as Nigerians and as youth.
Let me start with the subject matter at hand.
Passion in a lay man term simply entails zeal to do something.
In our local pidgin, we will say Ginger
The ginger to do something.
Passion also entails the drive to do something.
Impact on the other simply entails making a difference in  someone's life.
Making a difference in an era.
Affecting lives positively
It is rather unfortunate that as youth of this age we have a very wrong mindset and have allowed the trends of society to determine for us what is right and not.
Therefore we suffer from what I call "misplaced priority".
It is so sad that we define success by the number of cars, houses and how much we have in our bank accounts, and use these same tools as a measure of true success
Meanwhile the true measure of success for me is measured on how many lives you have being able to touch positively.
Which for me is the cross of the matter.
We all are good at lamenting on how dysfunctional our government is
But have you stoppped to ask yourself; what am I doing to making my society a better place?

Thankfully so, we all have something in common, JCI,
which has given each and everyone of us an opportunity to make a difference in someone's life.
Truth is you cannot be passionate about making impact until you learn to love the next person better than you love yourself.
I'd allow you digest that.

Everyone in life who has done something remarkable in the history of mankind was driven by the love of others.
If am sleeping in a comfortable bed and fully aware that there are folks who are being caressed by the January harmattan of the north. Then what drives me?
The craving to create a better South Africa drove Nelson Mandela the extra mile even to spend most his youthful age in prison.
You need to understand where he was coming from;
He was a successful lawyer
Who lived above the poverty range,knew his rights, but looked beyond the privileges he enjoyed and his immediate family to reach out to millions- at the expense of his own life. I can go on and on citing examples.
But the question really is *what is your motivation?*
When we carry out projects as members of JCI what is really the driving force?
We must first learn to love ourselves, because you can't give what you don't have.
Love others better than you love yourself
One may ask, is that possible?
Another may ask how about me?
The truth is that if you love the next man better than you love yourself someone will love you better than you love yourself.
And these are the set of people history does not erase from memory.
Mother Teresa is a clear cut example; All her life she cared for the widows and orphans in India, even though she actually  is from Albania. Upon her death, both countries struggled for the possession of her cops to be buried in a grave on their soil. Know why?
Her grave became an instant tourist attraction that brings income into the coffers of whatever government finally lays hold of it.
A true success is one whose life have being able to impact the life of another. It could be just one person
May I announce to you that every individual reading this tonight has the ability to influence 200 other individuals.
So imagine you influenced the life of one person, by implication you have affected the lives of 200 others based on this analogy.
Now imagine you do same to 20 others, you do the maths.
Here is my philosophy in life:
'As long as the pipe that is to supply water to other pipes remains relevant to its true purpose, it will never run dry.'
Same way a candle does not loose its light by lighting other candles
We are where we are today as a nation because we do not have each others interest at heart.
We have been divided among our various ethnic lines.
After hosting my just concluded TED Talk someone walked up to me and said; But you are not a northerner why are you doing all of these?
I smiled
The person forgot the fact that I am first a Nigerian, before I am an Igbo man and as such I owe this land called Nigeria a lot.
Many youth of this age think and feel that the government owe them a lot, but sorry to burst your bubble, if you're one of such, it is you that owes this nation a lot and not the other way round. Government is primarily there to enact and implement policies. But you and I forget that we are the actual government therefore we need to see beyond our nose and look for ways to bettering our society
We ought to be consumed by it. Imagine if everyone in this room tonight goes out to do one good thing everyday to someone and we keep at it for 365 days, Let's say one person per day. In a year you have touched 365 persons in a year. 365 person multiply by 200 persons equals the number of people you have influenced by proxy. That gives you an idea of the impact you have made in 365 days.
Recently I was watching an Indian tell his story of how he established a school that could sustain itself, pay staff and afford generations to come an opportunity and access to quality education and affordable cost. I know some of you will say you have no money because you are students. If you are a painter how much will it cost you to save the extra paints left from your painting jobs to go paint a school for free that really needs it? Most of us here are intelligent what will it cost you to take the kids in your community on tutorials for free?
God gave man brain to think and to solve most of the problems man will ever encounter. The problem is that we are not thinking enough
The America we see and envy today were built by men like you and I; Men who gave their all, Not men who will want to bankrupt their nation if given the slightest opportunity
And so in conclusion, If we must make a difference in our time, If our names must be written in the annals of history Ladies and gentlemen we must first love ourselves, then love others better than we love ourselves and be consumed by it.
Only then, just only then can we truly make the much needed impact society demands of us. Always think out of the box.
I want to thank the leadership of this great house for this opportunity and I do not make light of it.
I hope to be called upon some other day to share with us as well.

Compiled by Jaycee Peter Emmanuel Y.
Photo Credit: Internet Source