Friday, July 1

Tayo Aderinokun

(Inspired by Fola Adeola’s Tribute in The Guradian of today).
I was going to write about the rains today but then a friend drew my attention to this tribute and these thoughts came to mind.
First, that life is really nothing except it is lived doing what you need to do, enjoy doing it and that would be your purpose. The dictionary defines purpose as ‘the object, towards which one strives for….the reason for which something exists…’
Then the question becomes, what is my purpose? What is my dream, what do I desire to do?? According to Steven Pressfield “don’t deny the world of your contribution. Give it what you’ve got.” Again question is: what have you got??
Secondly, that money is good. Even the bible attests to that. ‘Money answers all things’, ‘money is a defense’. So we should desire to be very wealthy. Did Abraham and all his children not have wealth? Was Solomon not over rich?? Again I ask: but what would you do with the wealth? What value would you add? And please, do not tell me you are not rich, (as an aside) how many of you suffered from the recent scarcity of kerosine? How many people even remember that there is such thing as kerosine? I am guilty here, if ‘guilt’ is the word. What I am trying to say that our circumstances, dire as they may seem, are not as bad as we think, compared.
The message of the Kingdom is to ‘love and help the poor’. I know for a fact that the muslims also take alms giving serious; I grew up as a muslim so I know. Help the poor. What are you doing with your money? Ok, ok you are not stinkingly rich yet, but the little you have, what are you doing with it? Who or what are you helping? What values are you adding? Do we sleep well on any day knowing we have done good that day?
Thirdly, that dreams are good only to the extent to which you actually actualize them! Grammar, but the point is, an idea is birth in your mind, what do you do with it?? Maybe that is your ticket to getting there! Fola and Tayo started a barbers shop in Ikoyi because there was none! The man was going to start a gym in Kano because there was none! A need gives birth to a dream!
I have just recently moved to a place where I have to drive in an ocean to get home. In short, the place I moved from also have an ocean, so…). Please imagine how people who have no cars manage.  We see okada riders throw school children, book and all smack into this dirty water! I see a need there: there must be another way to get people safely across this water. Can we have a 'canoe service?' I look at those cool babes who have no cars and have to walk through puddles of water with their shoes in their hands! (ouch, I know exactly how demeaning and embarrassing that feels). How about the risk of infection from the water?? So I am thinking, is there a way we can produce lovely, transparent, bright, and colourful boots for ladies? Something they would be proud to don and not feel embarrassed in? I don’t care if anyone steals this idea, but this is a solution to a need! If necessary, start a Boot Rental Service for areas where people only have to cross from the junction to their homes! I do not know what the finer details will be (i.e how the boots gets returned etc) but those are things to think through, #JustStartFirst!
Tayo had dreams, he had money and he had purpose; he 'showed up for life' He did not, in his own way, 'deny the world of his contribution' (thank God for GTB!). I am grateful to him for inspiring me to think about my dreams again. I hope you would think about yours, dust them up (where necessary) and #StartSomething.
May he (finally, after all the pain), rest in peace.
Be free oh and “don’t deny the world of your contribution. Give it what you’ve got.”

10 comments:

  1. This is as apt and on point as it can possibly get. God help us 'show up for life.' Living a below potential and mundane life will just not do. It is not what we were created for and it is not acceptable.

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  2. Another inspiring one! You are not denying us your contribution. Blossom

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  3. Oh Zouzou, I totally agree with you on the need for a boot rental service of sorts. I think another great need would be how to stop poor pedestrians getting "sprayed" (uncaringly or otherwise) by the ones who rush by in their jeeps and cars. Might help in the first instance for drivers to slow down a little, but maybe there's something else that could be done.

    Regarding Tayo, I saw a poster recently which said "God said, let there be greatness ... and there was me". Perhaps we could say "and there was Tayo" and of course other great men and women. I also commented that I have not seen this many obituaries for one person, ever! We pray that we also be sorely missed when we go, and that above all the cries of our family and friends, we would indeed rest in peace.

    Another quote I saw and loved once - that "the cost of greatness/success and mediocrity are one and the same: a lifetime". Let us choose today to use our one shot wisely!

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  4. @Ugovera, the problem is having these ideas and never doing anything about them . Food for thought (the spraying of water part).
    Someone in my office just commented on the obituaries as well. It is so sad, gone, at 56.
    While we are here, we had better give life to those dreams....
    Thanks for your comments.

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  5. Nicely written and very thought provoking! Myles Munroe has always said that the greatest tragedy in life is to live and die without finding out why you were brought here in the first place. It is truly only God that open our eyes and reveal our purpose to us....we have to constantly ask him for direction.

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  6. Thank you Zai. This is really inspiring ans its rather sad he had to die at that early age. Whats consoling however is the no of lives he was able to touch before he died, how many people he was able to give a source of livelihood. May his soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.

    ...erm @ugovera...I just couldn't resist this- maybe you should rewind to 2009, days following Michael Jackson's demise. There was this much obituaries and even more. On another note,'the cost of greatness/success and mediocrity is truly a lifetime. God help us all, amen.

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  7. Funny I should be musing over this in the past week, even before his demise (and now Christie Essien Igbokwe is gone at 51! Dear God, they are too young!!!!). The potentials in me and the never ending fear of leaving my comfort zone. Which is why I am invariably stuck in the thing I hate and wish to God the cycle were broken...oh, well, got to keep praying for the breakthrough...PUSH, alas.

    cheers,
    Mary (Omo Jesu)

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  8. Uncle Tee as he is fondly called. I met him once and I can testify he is humble! GTB brought diginity to bank, you can tell a GTB staff once u met them in those days...Humility is good, but u know the saying give a man money and power and k...now his true nature.....

    Dream...as I read your blog today, I thought of all my dreams, i dream alot and u know what I must confess am tired cos all the ideas...are just there, maybe am not doing enough, or maybe like Joseph one day it will happen that am called out of the 'jail' to glory! Its well
    Tayo RIP u have done ur share.

    Millie

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  9. There are some trendy boots for the rains, they are called "wellies"... Guess that'll solve that problem. I was thinking of purchasing some myself :) seeing that I also abide in a pond myself.

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  10. Really?? Do we have them in Lagos? How do we get them to our neihbourhoods?

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