There is one particular dilemma that keeps haunting me “finding a balance between the “ideal” and the “reality”. The ideal appears “unattainable” while the reality is a “no-go area”. If by any chance, we experience the “ideal” in our minds and face the “reality”, there is a confliction and consequently a constraint that hinders most people from moving forward. Hence, we live in two worlds that numerous people on earth find difficult to reconcile together; contribution and significance.
Everyone is motivated by either two of these elements; we want to attain significance (economic, political and social) or we want to contribute (give to the poor, fight for the oppressed, open the eyes of the blind, etc.) Since we are (consciously or unconsciously) finding fulfillment in whatever we venture in, we are conflicted on which particular path to take; we do not want to contribute and miss out on the significance and we do not want significance without feeling guilty of not contributing.
My role in my undergraduate days was more inclined to contribution; help out in what capacity I could in the Christian Fellowship either teaching newly intakes a subject for free or pastoring a hall. Since I did this for 4 years, it sort of shaped my paradigm that it became easy for me to contribute when I left the four walls of the university. Till date, I still feel a pang of guilt if my inclination is more towards significance than contribution.
These two elements are not mutually exclusive: However, I have noticed two very important schools of thought on this matter; while some feel that you cannot be truly significant without contributing e.g. Mohammed Yunus founded one of the biggest bank in East Asia (Grameen Bank) through contributing, others feel you need significance to contribute e.g. Bill Gates after his economic significance with Microsoft decided to contribute fully to humanity.
I would not attempt to hide my bias towards “Contributing to Significance” paradigm because most of my heroes contributed to significance (e.g. Bishop David Oyedepo) and not to mention my undergraduate Christian Fellowship background but we must understand that habits are difficult to break; this is the problem I have with “Significance to Contributing” paradigm e.g. IBB with all his economic and social power believes he has to gain political power to create a positive change in Nigeria.
In Proverbs 31, a mother advise his son, King Lemuel, on the difficulty of contributing when significance has been obtained; she made him understand the vices and the challenges that someone who has reached significance face when they try to contribute; this reminds me of the adage “you cannot really know someone unless he is given power”. The two vices associated with power (as mentioned by King Lemuel’s mom) are Women and Alcohol.
Women and Alcohol are symbolic of distractions that come with power and are a travesty to the help that God promises us: Instead of the Holy Spirit, some men subscribe to Alcohol and instead of a Virtuous Woman, some men subscribe to women. Knowing the distinction between the substance and the shadow is vital to being a virtuous man. Is there really a man on this earth that contributes without seeking for significance: What do you think? I guess I will continue next week; have a lovely week!
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May 1, 2010 at 9:59 am (UTC 1)
…thanks dipo! It will be amazing to let you know that the subject had sparingly waned in my mind ,after several cognitive thought to bell myself out of the dilemma proved somewhat abortive until two minutes ago when i started reading the piece. True! filtering the difference between the colloids of the ideal and the real is challenging!!!!!!!!!!!!
From the comments, it’ll be alot more mind-opening if we begin to look at the two mutually exclusive conflicting factors as an unending circle that starts from contribution points. I’m of the opinion that, a man must rise from the narrow confines of his ”selfish desires” to the broader reach of meeting the pressing needs of humanity. So long as he continues to find a need and fufill it, he progresses till he so becomes significanT- that explains the Bill Gates scenario.
Either good or bad contribution, so long as its gains the approval of the human factor, it sure turns out the make the significant….I write in the spheres of the real and the ideal…..I look forward to your conclusion….
THANKS
April 30, 2010 at 4:31 pm (UTC 1)
well said royal prince.Is there really a man on this earth that contributes without seeking for significance?no man!everone wears an invisible necklace that screams “i’m important”.we all have some measure of significance and the level is relative but with any level of significance one can make a contribution.example?mother theresa.we all have an inherent desire to crave significance and the highest need of man according to abraham maslow’s hierarchy of needs is self-actualization which is the desire for self-fulfillment, namely,the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency can be regarded as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming.IBB’S desire is to rule naija again,for the sake of this argument its not important to know from where this desire stems from.he dosnt need to become president to make a positive change but he indeed can make a change even as president.hitler is another example.his signicance came as a result of contribution,though negative.either way,we all crave significance but the most significance is made when we contribute whether big or small when a life is changed and a soul is touched.we cant all be Bill Gates but we all can be all that we can be.
over to you Chief for the concluding part.
April 30, 2010 at 3:41 pm (UTC 1)
@Ben: just gone through ur coment once again and wish to submit that there is indeed, some level of significance in everyone at least, to gurantee some level of contributions but thats not d kind of significance being implied in the post. I often tel my brethren that ‘no matter how poor u think u are, u are rich enof 2 bless somebody’. We don’t need to wait until we attain that i-have-arrived kind of signifance b4 contributing…
April 30, 2010 at 3:11 pm (UTC 1)
Thought povoking piece, interesting coments. IMHO, it is by contributing that we gain significance. The diference is the stage: those we perceive to have gained significance b4 contributing have been contributing on “smaller” stages and in the proces gaining significance litle by litle and moving unto biger stage. Most times, this is d point they get noticed- on d biger stage. This is the kingdom route xcept 4 significance that come by crooked and dubious means.
April 30, 2010 at 11:34 am (UTC 1)
@Dipo,
in the case of Mohammed Yunus you cited, he was with ‘little significance’, so little or not, hidden or shown, it’s imperative.
I’m expecting the concluding part
April 29, 2010 at 7:50 pm (UTC 1)
@ Balogun Kayode
I am thinking what you said is opposite to Ben’s paradigm or am I wrong?
@ Ben
The way you looked at it is fantastic but thats the way everyone that seeks power looks at it – if I gain significance, I would contribute more. The truth is not everybody will gain significance – are you saying without significance you cannot contribute?
Think of Mohammed Yunus: a man with little significance use the little influence he had to contribute and became significant.
Is there a center to this?
April 29, 2010 at 7:21 pm (UTC 1)
dear dipo, am looking forward to the concluding part of your write up but i agree totally with Ben that its perhaps better to prepare ahead, contribute and then become significant.
balogun
April 29, 2010 at 8:44 am (UTC 1)
This is a good thought bro. They do conflict really but an indepth look would show that you can’t contribute without earning significance. In your example, you wouldn’t be able to contribute if you hadn’t gained the significance. You can’t give what you don’t have. It all begins from within, that quality was there and you’re ready to give & if someone doesn’t see it, you won’t be motivated. So, you’ve earned significance, building on that thus enables you to contribute more and earn more significant. It’s a 2-way thing. You earn, give & earn biggerly or you wait to earn big before you give big and in turn earn more. When i was in school, i knew i could not do without making an impact & i needed recognition. I started by first developing myself & preparing ahead. As a result, i participated actively in class and giving free tutorials, this, couple with that semester result, i got noticed. This thus give me more & better power to the point that i gave the department what they never dreamt of for ten years. Contribution & Significance go hand in hand, but one must earn the power first (from within). Mat. 5:14 says, “you are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden” but if the city is not built, can’t it be seen?