On The
Path Of Winners
BY
BAYO OGUNMUPE
Values
that Make You Great
REMEMBER that the force that gets you what you want
is the quest for abundant life. And what you want is an opportunity to live and
enjoy more life. But you can get what you want by the operations of the
universal law by which all life advances into fuller expression. That law is
that whenever an organism has more life that can’t find expression on its given
plane, its surplus life lifts it to the next higher plane or level. When you
put the totality of yourself into a project, or work by doing it perfectly,
your surplus power will extend your work into a larger field, propelling you
into greater umbrage.
Indeed, it is essential that you should have an aim in mind so that your
surplus power may be turned to the right channel. Whatever you can conceive and
believe, you can achieve. But do not let your ambition to interfere with your
present job. Your ambition is a guide to your energy and an inspiration to
cause you to apply your energy to the utmost to your present work. Live, work
and plan for the future now.
Suppose your desire is to have a supermarket chain and you only have
enough capital to start a groundnut stand. Do not try to start a supermarket
today on a groundnut stand capital. Just start the groundnut stand in the full
faith and confidence that you will soon be able to develop it to a supermarket.
Look upon the stand as the beginning of the supermarket. But get more
business by building on human values that will enable you amass a fortune in
the future.
Do not desire for today what is beyond your ability to get today. But
never take less than the best you can get today. If you are satisfied with less
than the best, you will cease to move forward. The law of evolution says
whoever more than fills his present position must be advanced. But it is not
enough for you to put surplus life into your ambition. You will not advance far
if you are an untrustworthy employee, a bad husband and father or an unfaithful
friend. Your failure in those respects will make you incapable of using your
surplus value for the advancement of your life. Avoid the competitive spirit
because abundance is limitless, there is enough to go round. You do not need to
rob others.
However, there are moral or ethical values that will propel you towards
your goals. They might include forgiveness, honesty, liberty, love, respect for
life and self-control. Our values influence our behaviour, priorities as well
as the moral guidance we give our children. The problems of today: armed
robbery, kidnapping, terrorism and oil theft are traceable to the decline in
our moral values. In 2008, researchers in the United States interviewed adults
about their views on moral values. “What is disheartening is how bad they are
thinking and talking about moral issues,” said David Brooks in The New York
Times. Most felt that rape and murder were wrong but “aside of those extreme
cases, moral thinking didn't enter the picture.
Many viewed the matter this way: “If it feels right, do it. Go with your
heart.” Is that thinking wise? Those realities should move us to question our
own heart, not blindly trust it! Indeed, the Bible states: “he that is trusting
in his own heart is stupid,” Proverbs 28:26. Like a compass, our heart needs to
be calibrated with sound values, if it is to serve us well. But where can we
find such values? Many look to the scriptures, appreciating both their wisdom
and candour.
Let us show a few examples: “Clothe yourselves with love, for it is a
perfect bond of union,” Col. 3:14. Saint Paul the same Bible writer also said:
“If I do not have love, I am nothing” – 1 Cor. 13:2. Love is neither sexual nor
sentimental, it is governed by principle. It is love that moves us to help a
stranger in difficulty, with no thought of a reward. When families lack such
love, everybody suffers, especially children.
A particular enemy of love is materialism – the belief that material
well-being and pleasure are the highest values. Yet research repeatedly shows
that beyond a surprisingly modest threshold, more wealth does not bring more
happiness. In fact people who adopt materialistic values may actually be
investing in unhappiness. This view finds support in the Bible book of
Ecclesiastes 5:10 “A mere lover of silver will not be satisfied with silver,
neither any lover of wealth with income. This too is vanity.” Another aphorism
says: “Let your manner of life be free of the love of money,” Hebrews 13:5.
Giving makes you happier than receiving. The Bible says: “There is more
happiness in giving than there is in receiving,” Acts 20:35. But the best and
most rewarding form of giving is giving of ourselves, in the form of time and
energy. Indeed, by walking in the way of Jehovah, you reap many rewards. In
fact, God promises: “Keep God’s way and He will exalt you to take possession of
the Earth. When the wicked ones are cut off, you will see it,” Psalm 37:34.
Our champion today is Mike Mansfield, in full: Michael Joseph Mansfield,
the American politician and diplomat who served as U.S. Representative
(1943-53) and U.S. Senator (1953-1977) from the U.S. state of Montana. A member
of the Democratic Party, Mansfield was the longest serving senate majority
leader, serving from 1961 to 1977. He was an opponent of the Vietnam War.
After returning from the senate Mansfield served as U.S. ambassador to
Japan from 1977 to 1988. Also, Mansfield is the longest serving American
ambassador to Japan in history. Born in Brooklyn, New York City to Patrick
Mansfield and Josephine (nee O’Brien) Mansfield, Irish Catholics, Mansfield,
after the death of his mother, he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle in
Great Falls, Montana. There, he turned into a habitual runaway and dropped out
of school at 14.
Lying about his age, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War I.
after the war, he was discharged after his real age was known. Thereafter, he
enlisted in the Army as a private in 1919, serving in the Marine Corps in the
Philippines. He was released in 1922. Then he worked as a mucker in the Montana
copper mines for eight years. Having never attended high school, Mansfield entered
the Montana School of Mines in 1927, he became a mining engineer in 1928. Then
he met his wife, Maureen Hayes, a teacher who encouraged and financed Mansfield
to earn a BA in the University of Montana and the MA in the Fletcher School of
Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in 1934.
Mansfield entered Congress in 1943, serving five terms and the senate
from 1953 till 1977. As Senate President, Mansfield delivered the lead eulogy
as President Kennedy’s casket lay in state in the Capitol rotunda on November
24, 1963. Later, retired from the senate in 1976, he was appointed ambassador
to Japan, serving for eleven years. He died at the age of 98, survived by a
daughter, and was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery. The Maureen and
Mike Mansfield Library was the monument named for him at the University of
Montana.
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