Tuesday, 30 September 2014 21:28
Written by MATHIAS KATAMBA
I was asked to speak on the subject of “inspiring lives”.
By all accounts, this is no easy subject
to speak about, particularly to an audience comprising some of the most
accomplished professionals in this country. Here, in this gathering,
are some of the most inspiring individuals and, I dare say, my own story
is nothing compared to those of so many here today.
To begin with, I want to state that
anybody can be an inspiration. But to succeed in inspiring others, I
want to argue, the first victory has to be over yourself. To truly
inspire others, you must be able to subordinate your strongest human
desires to something bigger. You must want to live for something greater
than yourself, and you must start with the end in mind.
The best way to do this is to ask
yourself a question: what would I like my obituary to read like? For
instance, would it matter if it read like: “He was a rich man who owned
many properties and outmanoeuvred all his adversaries”?
Or it could be something like: “He was a
great man who loved his family and transformed his community”? These
two different obituaries communicate what one would have lived for in
their lifetime. One could have been an inspiration and the other just
another human being who lived through life to their satisfaction.
So, to bring the point home, I have
looked at the lives of some individuals that have inspired so many
people all over the world. They include Mother Theresa of Calcutta,
Nelson Mandela of South Africa; the late James Mulwana, an accomplished
industrialist in our own country; the late JC Kiwanuka, one of the
finest teachers; and many sitting here today, such as Professor
Frederick Sempebwa, Doctor Edward Kasirye, etc.
Having looked at their lives, I asked
myself a question: What is it that one has to do to make a difference
and an impact on those around them, just like each of these people has
done? I find that you have to focus on four critical components of life –
lifestyle, perspective, values and relationships.
In your lifestyle, you must focus on
what matters most, whether it is in relation to your health, economic
well-being, career, intellectual freedom, family or your community. What
you do today will define your tomorrow. Essentially, your hours define
your days, your days define your months, your months define your years
and – whether you like it or not, ladies and gentlemen – your years
define your life.
So, if you want to be an inspiration,
you must focus on how you spend each day. Perhaps, let me digress a bit
and talk a little more about intellectual freedom and the need to write.
To truly be inspirational, we must take time to document our stories.
The biggest challenge in this area is that most of our stories, as
Africans, remain untold.
Indeed, most of the African narrative is
written by other people, from their own perspective. I encourage us all
here to make the time to write. It is a powerful tool to inspire other
generations.
More than anything, our perspective to
life feeds into everything we do. It is our view of the world that
determines how we respond to every situation. To be an inspiration, you
need to clear your lenses so you can see the world, not for what it is,
but what it ought to be. Your perspective to family, work,
relationships, service and contribution will determine your impact in
your community and those around you.
So, to inspire others, your perspective
must be right. Take time to meditate. All the people I have mentioned,
that have inspired many, lived by a unique set of values. They all
worked hard, had empathy, a sense of fairness and selflessness in the
execution of their roles in society.
Many selfless, hard-working people that I
know don’t do it to please anyone, but out of conviction for what they
believe is the right thing to do. Take the example of people like the
late Doctor Lukwiya, who gave his all for his patients, or the late JC
Kiwanuka, who showed up every day to teach mathematics to students of
our St Mary’s College Kisubi.
They did their work like God was
watching. These are values that we can all aspire to. How you relate to
everybody that you come into contact with, be it at work, in your
community or much closer to home, like your family, determines the level
of impact that you will have on people, and this can either be negative
or positive. If, in your relationships, you live by the right values,
then you will be an inspiration to everybody around you.
As I end, each one of us who has had the
opportunity and privilege to have been groomed at SMACK – one of the
finest institutions in raising gentry – should be an inspiration to the
world. We, here today, have been blessed with an opportunity that not
everybody has had. We must be different.
We must work harder every day and work
to bring all our talents to bear and account for every privilege like
God is watching. I challenge us all to be an inspiration everywhere we
go.
The author is the managing director of Housing Finance
bank. This is a summary of his keynote address at a reunion of former
students of St Mary’s College Kisubi at City Royale hotel
