"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity" – Martin Luther King, Jr.
A life led without a Cause is like a car engine running on an bad gasoline, soon it would breakdown. A Cause is the basis for an action or response. It is the reason, goal or principle served with dedication and zeal. It is grounds for action.
A Cause is the motive, justification ideals etc. of a group or movement. They are events that provide the generative force that is the origin of something, or a series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end.
What is the reason for your life? Why are you living? What is the goal for your actions? What is your motivation for waking up every day, going about your business? Why do you think you deserve another second, day, week, month, year, or a decade of life?
Great people are ordinary men and women who have subjected their lives to extraordinary causes in their families, communities, nations, and the world at large.
Choosing to live for a worthy cause implicitly and spontaneously generates courage; which is acting right in spite of fear. Take a look around you: Is there not a worthy cause in your vicinity to sacrifice your time for? Is there any activity you can embark on to help an individual in dire need as a family, a company, or institution?
In your family, is there not a cause to liberate future generations from the grip of poverty, lack of education, moral and social decadence by deciding to be massively successful as a young man or woman? As American Actor and Singer, Frank Sinatra puts it, “The best revenge is massive success.”
In your country, is there not a political cause that can transform your society? As a wife or husband, is there not a cause to ensure the success of your marriage just to save eminent men and women that are destined to evolve from your clan? All you need to do is to sacrifice your pride. As an entrepreneur, is there not a cause to impact lives of people around the globe commencing from the town or the city?
One person who championed a cause to change the course of history in his country and generation, is the former and first Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. Delivering an emotional eulogy to his father Lee Kuan Yew on the 29th March 2015, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore holding back his tears declared, "This has been a dark week for Singapore.The light that has guided us all these years has been extinguished. We have lost our founding father Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who lived and breathed Singapore all his life. He and his team led our pioneer generation to create this island nation, Singapore."
He added, " Mr Lee did not set out to be a politician, let alone a statesman, as a boy. In fact, his grandfather wanted him to become an English gentleman! But events left an indelible mark on him. He had been a British subject in colonial Singapore. He had survived hardship, danger and fear in the Japanese Occupation. These life experiences drove him to fight for independence."
Lee Kuan Yew led the Singapore from a third world status through multiple upheavals in Southeast Asia and oversaw its transformation from a relatively underdeveloped colonial outpost with no natural resources to an Asian Tiger economy and a first world status.
In an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) on 12 June 2005, former Prime Minister Lee stressed the need to have a continuous renewal of talent in the country's leadership, saying: "In a different world we need to find a niche for ourselves, little corners where in spite of our small size we can perform a role which will be useful to the world. To do that, you will need people at the top, decision-makers who have got foresight, good minds, who are open to ideas, who can seize opportunities like we did... My job really was to find my successors.
I found them, they are there; their job is to find their successors. So there must be this continuous renewal of talented, dedicated, honest, able people who will do things not for themselves but for their people and for their country. If they can do that, they will carry on for another one generation and so it goes on. The moment that breaks, it's gone."
Mr Lee gave Singaporeans the courage to face an uncertain future. He was a straight talker, and never shied away from hard truths, either to himself or to Singaporeans. Lee Kuan Yew was a fighter. In crises, when all seemed hopeless, he was ferocious, endlessly resourceful, firm in his resolve, and steadfast in advancing his cause.
He inspired and taught the people Singapore to give their best in all their endeavors and sacrifice their personal comfort for the corporate gain of the nation . “I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn't be here today.
And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn't be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters - who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think ,” confessed Lee Kuan Yew.
In 1988, Lee Kuan Yew averred at National Day Rally that “Even from my sickbed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.” Consequently, In 1999 Lee was named one of Time's Most Influential People of the 20th Century.
He was cited as a Master Planner. Lee Kuan Yew stood tall over other Asian leaders on the international stage. He loved his nation and the people he served . What really sets this complex man apart from Asia's other nation-builders is what he didn't do - he did not become corrupt, and he did not stay in power too long.
On 29 April 2010, Lee was named in the TIME 100 list as one of the people who most affect our world. He was profiled as a Thinker. When Lee took over, per capita income was about $400 a year; now it is close to $40,000...Because of his leadership, a medium-size city has become a significant international and economic player, especially in fostering multilateral transpacific ties. There is no better strategic thinker in the world today. Two generations of American leaders have benefited from his counsel.
Living for a cause has never been considered a mean feat , whether it is in standing up for a just cause in your society, changing the horizon and pedigree of one’s family, or being a change catalyst in your country, organization, and generation; living for a cause has always been challenging and at times even life threatening.
In some of parts of the world, the lives of individuals who choose to live for causes intended to bring justice and equity to the ordinary citizen are endangered one way or the other. But they are of the conviction that , "A man must be sacrificed now and again to provide for the next generation of men,"Amy Lowell. Hence, you must have the firm resolve of a determined spirit to pursue your passion and cause regardless of the odds and looming danger.
A pig and a chicken were on their way to have their breakfast, trying to decide what to have. When chicken said, ''Let's have ham and eggs.'' The pig then replied, ''That's fine for you, it's a small donation on your part, but it's a total sacrifice for me."
Living a cause requires total sacrifice not just a small donation of your time, money, talent , etc. "As soon as sacrifice becomes a duty and necessity to mankind. I see no limit to the horizon which opens before him," Ernest Renan. The following are some prevailing characteristics among people who lived for great causes in the history of humanity:
PURSUE A GREAT CAUSE: The 37th President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon maintained that, "A man who has never lost himself in a cause bigger than himself has missed one of life's mountaintop experiences. Only in losing himself does he find himself. Only then does he discover all the latent strengths he never knew he had and which otherwise would have remained dormant." The mark of true greatness is in the ability to subject one's giftings , resources , and freedom for causes intended to influence the course of humanity in monumental way.
STRONG CONVICTION: “A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done,” Vince Lombardi. Belief in your natural endowment and placement in life plays a paramount role in your pursuit of a worthy cause. One have to be totally sold out to his/her cause in order to be truly successful in bringing positive change to their environment.
SERVED HUMANITY: Ultimately, individuals who lived for worthy causes were people who felt that they have been bequeathed with the mandate to serve humanity selflessly with their gifts, talents, abilities, and calling irrespective of the price to pay.
It is important to note that it is virtually impossible to sacrifice your time, resources, talents, and natural endowments for a greater cause in your family, community, nation, and generation if you don’t value the outcome and the transformation it would bring to posterity. "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth," Muhammad Ali.
COURAGE: Living for a worthy cause requires staunch audacity and righteous defiance in the presence of seemingly insurmountable challenges and threats. Contrary to popular belief, courage is never the absence of fear but rather acting right in the presence of fear. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.
The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear,” Nelson Mandela. I guarantee you, your dreams and assignment will attract attacks from friends, enemies, and even some loved ones for strange reasons. Thus, you have to courageous in your quest to spearhead a worthy cause in your sphere of passion.
There may be spiritual, physical, psychological, and even financial warfare to sabotage your efforts and yes, there may be days you may be fearful and hard pressed but never give up the fight. It is better to die living for great cause than to be a living dead without a cause.
Nelson Mandela may have been fearful when he led the campaign to fight for the freedom of the people of South Africa. Martin Luther King Jr. may have felt the shadow of dead creeping in on him but he still fought for the civil rights of his people.
Winston Churchill may have sensed the dread of being crushed into serfdom by the Nazis regime as his own cabinet questioned Great Britain’s capacity to combat the German forces. Abraham Lincoln may have understood the threat of being assassinated when he championed the reforms in the United States of America in his era but these did not deter them.
I strongly believe that the fear of generations wasting away in social injustice, illicit activities, and moral degradation outweighed the threat of death for these great heroes. Hence, they asked of themselves "is there not a cause?"
You may not have a cause as great as bringing freedom, civil right, or economic transformation to a whole country or generation on the scale Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Abraham Lincoln did but whatever your convictions may be regardless of how infinitesimal it may seem, remember, “The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just,” Abraham Lincoln. Choose to live for a cause ! Discover Your Greatness.
