Conquer or Die
You have just one life to live, will you let it count for something good?
You have just one life to live, will our planet be a better place because of you?
Will there still be a trace of your existence after your casket is closed?
These are hard and yet deep questions, that continue to linger in the soul as time gradually ebbs into eternity. We have dreams and visions, which we hope to accomplish one day, but yet the uncertainties of life and it constant buffeting turns to plant doubts in our hearts as to the possibility of the accomplishment of our dreams.
The greatest tragedy is not that men die, but what dies in men while they live. There are many who take in oxygen and give out carbon dioxide but have no evidence of life. The evidence of life is growth and multiplication. The tree that does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire. Whatever does not evidence life is just occupying space.
You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its savor, it is good for nothing, but cast to the ground and trodden under feet of men.
You cannot conquer what you fail to confront and what you do not confront will always be a torn in your flesh causing psychological, emotional, and mental hemorrhages. When a man conquers himself, then and only then, is he ready to conquer his world.
There is no great name in history that did not conquer an injustice or evil or at least died trying to make a difference in the life of others. Great names are not remembered because of how they sound but because such offered unparalleled service, not out of duty, but out of compassion, love, and self-denial for the benefit of humanity and restoration of hope to many.
Hence though their mortal remains waste way in the graveyards, their names continue to leave indelible memories in the hearts and minds of hundreds of generations thereafter.
Leaving a well-paid job as the Headmistress of St. Teresa’s School in Calcutta in India and the comfortable confines of the Roman Catholic convent, Mother Teresa experienced what she later described as “the call within the call”. In her own words, “I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them”. She opened her first hospice care and in her words, it would care for “the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, and all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone”.
Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif called her “a rare and unique individual who lived long for higher purposes. Her life-long devotion to the care of the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged was one of the highest examples of service to our humanity.”
There are few who ever became great without sacrificing comfort or suffering some lose in one way or the other but like in wine production, the crushing of the berries releases the profiting content that is enjoyed by many in their homes and at parties. Don’t complain that life is hard, don’t say if things were different, I would do something. Do something with them as they are. Facing your life as it is now and winning is the object. When things go hard and money stops coming in, or you lose your job and everything goes wrong, don’t say why me? But say try me and go on and conquer.
Arise and shine for your light has come, ARISE AND CONQUER.
By Percy Selorm Agbeblewu.