Losing without losing honor: winning over losses.

A man in honor who does not know it, is like a beast that perish. That was the saying of a wise man. When a man is stripped of everything, the last thing you are left with is your integrity and integrity commands honor. Integrity restores honor and many other things. This is not a piece about a smart writer who has never flunked anything. It’s all about sincere expression of the heart. Many times, our losses are due to our own errors, ignorance or incompetence. Without an attempt to externalize several things, there are times; we lose not because we were poor, or evil. Not because we were bad or demonic but we lose because of external factors and interferences. Napoleon Bonaparte once loss a war as a result of an unexpected weather condition; yet he was one of the greatest warfare strategist that ever lived.

I know a man who had gone through a profitable business venture and failed. Rather than taking it against the people who seemingly impacted his chances of winning in this business; he did not. He refused to be bitter. He became better for it. He saw those folks some months after the event. He loved them. He respected them and celebrated them the more. There is an enormous power which flow from you when you do that. This man believed that it was all over with. He cannot change the past. He had to move on with his life. I know another man who failed in a great relationship. Rather than hating the partner who jilted him for another man, he loved her. He still prayed for his ex-lover. He sought for the happiness of the same.

 If we live long enough, times and again, we will get into certain mess. We will be involved in some venture that will not work the way we envisaged. Certain things will not go as planned. You have probably heard of that saying that:  It is better to plan and fail than not to plan at all. I add this that: it is better to act and fail than not to act at all. It is better to be hated for who you are, than to be loved for who you are not. It is better to wake up and see yourself cheated than not to have risked at all. 

So you are wondering: how do I lose without losing my honor?-It’s when I forgive and forget. It is when i count it all loss for the sake of the cross of Christ. Forsaking all that mattered to me so that I may gain the Christ and the essence of His resurrection. It is when i rebuke revenge and vengeful spirit. It is when i refuse to be bitter when I lose. It is when i refuse to go after the winners, struggling over their trophies. It is when i count my losses; accept them and move on. It is when i refuse to cut the jugular of my betrayers. It is when i celebrate those who are still in their own limelight. For life is not all about winning alone. It is as well about losing. It is all about seasons. We will all have our own moments... if we will wait for our own time and chance. The time will change. The tide will turn. And will be more... as we all age, there will be a tilt in the balance of things. Above all, there is no one who is ever forgotten in the very book of life.

Moments that shaped the world!

There are moments that shaped destinies! If you have ever heard of a saying that: delay can be dangerous? You will understand what I am talking about. The impact of one minute lost and the power of one moment missed can shape entire history; defining both destinies and destitute! It is no longer news that Haiti fell through earthquake. The crux of my writing is this: when the natural disaster left some lives hanging between life and death, who actually killed the rest of the many people that natural disaster didn’t kill? There were people who would have survived the earthquake but the rescue team came late. Some of us who have money refused to donate and therefore not enough aids were sent. As a result, some earthquake victims who were too weak to hold on to the rope of life slowly let go. They crossed the chasm of living and dead. That was the end. Although huge amounts of money was raised and are still being raised, many souls had gone.

If you can still remember how Americans waited for weeks to make up their minds on the Afghanistan war, whether to continue the war or to back out of it. President Barrack Obama did his best among several other challenges he was faced with. The Health Care reforms took tones of his energy. Most precious time was wasted on debate. The clock was ticking. The issue on the House’s agenda was more than the war victims. The US President was unable to make a decision quickly. The Afghanistan war claimed more lives. America later did what seem good for their country by sending reinforcement but many soldiers had already died before the back up arrived. Some great soldiers had lost their precious lives because there was no support, because artilleries were not enough, because war equipments weren’t timely supplied.

If you have ever seen the movie called Titanic, you will understand what I am talking about here. If you can still recall that the hero called Jack and other passengers on board died shortly after that shipwrecked. Numerous souls were lost in the sea because of what? Time! It happened not just because there were not enough large round floaters, to be thrown out to drowning persons. It was not a matter of watertight floaters alone but also due to the fact that the rescue team came in late. The passengers died because there was bureaucracy, ego, pride, selfishness and negligence somewhere along the chain of command. Surrounding the situation of the shipwrecked passengers was a rescue team that was infected with a viral disease called pride!

When leaders, officials, medical doctors, nurses, lawyers, committees and everyday people in the center of decisions begin to see our work as a matter of heaven and hell, as matters of life and death; then we will fulfill the will of God. When we begin to apply urgency where it is needed, we will never drag feet where we should hurry and scurry. In this age of greed where “ego-bloatedness” reigns, crossing the line of decision will continue to require much more than we can imagine. Our mere obedient we not be enough rather a timely sacrifice…Where power and pride conflicts wisdom and common sense conflicts with authority, the only thing that suffers most is people who are the creation of God.

Let it be re-written for future leaders that one most important thing to watch out for in leadership is never allow title displace target. It is not in how we dress up to appear before people or in the media. Crowd of audience may cheer, without fulfillment of purpose it all amounts to nothing. Every future leader must know this that: lives, chance, time, moments and opportunities, will never wait for anyone. This has been before the world began, and it will forever remain so. The clock is ticking. You got to make up your mind. Decide what you would do. The consequence may cost you something but the situations of urgency commands urgent response. And with each tick of the clock, souls are perishing.