FREE TO DREAM

I had prepared this article for a presentation at the Auditorium of the Nigerian Law School Yenagoa Campus, Bayelsa State. It was a Music and Talent Show Night; a lot of students were sited. Eventually, I was not able to make the presentation. Hence I have decided to post it on my blog for my readers. It does apply to you. Happy reading!

“Our deepest fear is not that we’re inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we’re powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, ‘who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we consciously give others the permission to do the same.” Nelson Mandela inaugural speech 1994

           “Tonight, this hall houses over three hundred persons with potential beyond telling. We need not look further than our noses to discover this fact. I know we can’t see this by merely looking, but just take a look at the adjoining seat and observe the occupant; they have the ability to be something more than just a frame; something special. The essential thing is to dream. A people cannot be great or fulfilled without it. No person can be great without it.

           Living as we do in troubled times, we look to individuals who dream, individuals who are well above the tide of the conventional to get us out of our predicament. No one cheers people who are experts in merely identifying problems. Anyone can do that. It seems to be the natural instinct of man. The problem solvers are those with practical suggestions that address societal ills. They are the sought-after breed. There are a lot of problems around here. There is a dearth of genuine leadership, a complete abandonment of our individual and collective responsibility, institutionalised corruption; the list is endless! Almost everything is falling apart, and we do a good job of stating that realistically.

          Today we sit here as prospective members of the bar; we sit in the mould of judges, important administrative officers providing stellar leadership, great thinkers and philosophers. It is our responsibility to illuminate the dark corners of our country with the blazing brightness of competence, diligence, discipline, and integrity. I daresay that the role of lawyers in Nation building cannot be overstated.

           I am free to dream. You are free too. We have to seize the freedom to be what and who we want to be, to ride gallantly into our world of great potential, to begin to scribble our stories on the pages of society. Only you have the ability to write your own story.

Tonight, I am filled with great pain at our dormancy, our cowardice; we are oblivious to the inexhaustible resources within us. Truly, there are daunting challenges within and without. You and I have every reason to be afraid. Sometimes we will fail, but we must never say never. It would be far worse not to dream at all. The famous and brilliant writer, Oscar Wilde says, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”. Fortune, they say, favours the brave. And I want you to be brave tonight. I want you to really dream, to hope in something more, to be free to dream. Maybe we’ve not realised this glaring fact yet, we are the future of this Nation, whether it is failing or it has utterly failed.

      The process is tedious, the stakes are definitely high, but the right attitude and diligent efforts will culminate in tangible results.

I close with this quote: Think big, start small, start now”.

Thank you!

  Othman