Discover your greatness: Depth determines height

“Many people have an abundance of talent that will take them to heights that their character and integrity (or foundation) can’t support” - Pastor A.R. Bernard

Depth determines height, and height also determines depth! How deep your foundation is will determine how far you reach in life.

Likewise, the height of a building will determine the depth of its foundation. It is therefore imperative to know what you want to build in life i.e. your purpose, dreams, and destination in life (its breadth, width, and height) in order to know what kind of foundation (depth) is required.

This would also save you from digging the wrong depth because all depths are not identical. Your height inevitably determines your depth and vice versa.

See, depth builds wisdom, establishes understanding and broadens knowledge, and when you are aware of the heights to which you are going in life, you would inevitably endure the process.

American poet and educator, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was right when he asserted that the, “Heights by which great men reached and kept were not obtained by sudden flight but, while their companions slept, they were toiling upward in the night.”

Depth is defined as the condition or quality of being deep; strength held in reserve; the profundity of moral character; penetration; sagacity; integrity, or degree of psychological or intellectual sharpness.

On the other hand, Height(s) is defined as a high point or position; the highest level or degree attainable; the highest stage of development; or a position of influence, fame, or power.

In effect, your quality of being deeply rooted, having strength in reserve, being wise in character, reliable, and mentally astute would determine the position of influence, fame, or power; degree of attainment, and the highest stage of development in life.

Henry Wadsworth gives us an insight that heights cannot be reached with supersonic jet speed. That is to say, it is not about speed but character formation.

The depth of a person can be measured by their choices, character, perspective, and values in life. It is sad to say that a good percentage of gifted individuals are wasting away today owing to the lack of depth in their lives.

They tend to make erratic decisions, cannot survive under duress, or unable to patiently wait for what is rightfully theirs.

Unless we take practical steps to build depths in our moral, cognitive capacity, and other areas of life which would in turn be inculcated into generation; the world would virtually be an animal kingdom.

Helen Adams Keller, American author, political activist, lecturer, and the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree held that, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.”

Today our societies are plagued with people with enormous responsibilities but no depth. There are pastors, politicians, parents, educators, and celebrities who are morally, psychologically, and spiritually bankrupt. Hence, they have nothing to draw from but situational ethics (what seem right or popular in the moment).

I heard someone say, “Where wisdom and decency are absent, foolishness and immorality becomes the order of the day.” There are people at great heights in our communities but lack the depth required to support them where they are.

The ancients understood the process of life that is why parents spent countless time nurturing their children´s depth, ranging from domestic chores to personal responsibilities and ethics.

There were certain regimental practices every kid had to go through in their society irrespective of which part of the world they lived. Therefore, people came out of homes and communities with a sense of accountability and diligence, with the ingrained belief that they owe their countries and humanity a service and not the other way round.

A young boy who was born in Landport, a district located near the center of Portsea Island in the city of Portsmouth, England, and later relocated to a suburb in London called Camden Town had his fair share of challenges after his father was sent to debtors’ prison.

His family subsequently joined his dad in the debtors’ prison with the exception of the 12-year-old young boy. In order to fend for himself as well as assist his family, he involuntarily left school and work ten-hour days at Warren’s Blacking Warehouse where he was responsible for preparing bottles of black shoe polish for the market.

After working for 12 hours a day, he would be forced to walk to his lodging, then partake in a meager evening meal of bread and cheese. Come morning, the boring ritual repeated itself--six days a week and he visited his family on the seventh day.

This two-year stint branded him internally. Despite the horror of this phase of his life, he turned these painful days into creative fuel for his famous characters and novels, becoming the foundation of his interest in the reform of socio-economic and labor conditions, the rigors of which he believed were unfairly borne by the poor. He would later write that, “...the sense I had of being utterly neglected and hopeless, of the shame I felt in my position...can not be written.”

The Righteous anger stemming from his own situation and the conditions under which working-class people lived became major themes of his works, and it was this unhappy period in his youth to which he alluded in his favorite, and most autobiographical, novel. He eventually attended the Wellington House Academy in North London, but his mother did not immediately remove him from the boot-blacking factory.

The Wellington House Academy was not a good school. ‘Much of the haphazard, desultory teaching, poor discipline punctuated by the headmaster’s sadistic brutality, the seedy ushers and general run-down atmosphere, are illustrated in his writings.’

At age 15, he worked as a clerk in an attorney’s office. His short-hand ability which he learned from night study moved him forward into a reporter’s position. After a time, he began writing short stories and serials under the name of “Boz.”

The wretched status of the poor was a focus of many of his novels. His writings helped to effect changes in the degenerate living and working conditions of the Industrial Age, Victorian England. He entered a career in law, working as a Clerk. These experiences provided more insights for future novels. He afterward took a job as a court stenographer.

Later on, he took a job as a political journalist, reporting on parliamentary debates and traveling across Britain to cover election campaigns for the Morning Chronicle. From this point on, his career and life started taking off to an unimaginable height. This young spirited and assiduous boy is Charles John Huffam Dickens.

Some have even wondered if the time Dickens spent building his depth in life is what has provided him insights to write and publish over a dozen major novels, a large number of short stories (including a number of Christmas-themed stories), a handful of plays, and several non-fiction books; novels which were initially serialized in weekly and monthly magazines, then reprinted in standard book formats. To name among few of Dickens’ popular writings are: The Adventures of Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Hard Times: For These Times, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and Sketches by Boz.

Owing to the foundation of the depth which undeniably determined the heights of Charles Dickens, he still continues to be one of the best known and most read of English authors, and his works have never gone out of print.

At least, 180 motion pictures and TV adaptations based on Dickens’ works help confirm his success. Many of his works were adapted for the stage during his own lifetime and as early as 1913, a silent film of The Pickwick Papers was made. His characters were often so memorable that they took on a life of their own outside his books.

When your character, integrity, and mental agility which are substantive elements of your depth are sound, you would surely be on your way to greater heights in life.

The following are few tips to assist you to train harder and dig deeper in accordance with your talent and purpose in life:

• Drink Deeply From Good Books - American author and humorist, Samuel Langhorne Clemens better known by his pen name Mark Twain believed that, “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.” Through good books, we drink deeply from the wisdom of the ancient and the insights from the best minds around the globe.

• Cherish Your Experiences - French author, journalist, and philosopher of the 20th century, Albert Camus said “When you have really exhausted an experience, you always reverence and love it. You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.” American singer-songwriter, musician, author, media personality and actress, best known for her Christian music, Amy Grant also testifies that “There’s a beauty to wisdom and experience that cannot be faked.

It’s impossible to be mature without having lived.” Experiences come our way not to break us but to make us strong for the next level of life and also to make us better not bitter. “If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we’d all be millionaires,” says Abigail Van Buren.

• Surround Yourself With Seasoned People - You become who you associate with in life. If you want to see where you are heading in life, take a step back and watch the people you associate with. Not all experiences are needful to you; that is why you need “valuable experience”. "Surround yourself with people you can always learn something from. Always work with people that are better at their craft than you are", Tony Vincent.

• Avoid Get-Rich-Quick Schemes - It is very tempting to cut corners or pull a fast one on systems, principles, and procedures when building depth in life but what most people do not know is, when your depth is built on wobbly and questionable values, you may seem to get to your height in life but you may lack sustainability which is staying power. Speaker and author, Steve Maraboli admonishes that “get-rich-quick schemes are for the lazy & unambitious. Respect your dreams enough to pay the full price for them.”

• Build Staying Power - Staying power is the ability to dig in your heels for a long haul.

Staying power is endurance. American author, Marsha Sinetar believes that the "burning desire to be or do something gives us staying power - a reason to get up every morning or to pick ourselves up and start in again after a disappointment.”

It is no mean feat to develop depth in this fast-paced, ever-changing, moral-deficient, and materialistic world we live in today. But to really finish well in life, we need to build sustainable depth that would even outlast our generation and overflow to the succeeding generation. I challenge you today to seek the insight that would enable you build the depth required to undergird your natural endowment.

Remember, “Failure is not fatal. Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. It should challenge us to new heights of accomplishments, not pull us to new depths of despair. From honest failure can come valuable experience,” William Arthur Ward.