Why we are here?

Everyone and their beagle has pondered on the question - why are we here? I have spent so many sleepless nights try to make sense of this chaos. Are we here to feel happiness and sorrow? Are we here to enjoy each others company? Are we here to be wealthy, or better yet attain all the knowledge this world has to offer? I think I found my answer be looking to my African roots. As a Nigerian, name is of utmost importance to us-we are given names with meaning; your name could be reminiscent of the conditions of your birth like my brother whose name means God has done well-he almost died at childbirth. Your name could also be indicative of who you are expected to become-my name means the power of God. But irrespective of what ever first name you have, as an African your most important name is your last name. So why am I talking about names? I'll get to it in a second.

As a kid my dad always used to tell me that upon his death he would leave me nothing-not a cent or even a shoe; he'd say that he had already given me something of more value-my last name. A name created by my great grandfather, made great by my grandfather, and even greater by my dad. He'd say he'd already given me a name that commands respect and affords to me a level of dignity that I must unequivocally uphold. He was always so passionate about the subject and I realize now what he was trying to say. Those before me were asking me to help them live even after their death-to help the live on by continuing what they started. After much thought, I realized how very alive all deceased great individuals are- Washington, Franklin, Rockefeller, Ford, Hamilton, King, Benz, Johnson, Kennedy, Ghandi, and many more; they are all still very alive in our minds, our thoughts, our vocabulary, our lives. Some were president, some were captains of industry, some were pastors, some were politicians. But whatever they were, they were leaders who either made a name great, or took the greatness that was given to them and propelled it for their descendants. I can not imagine Dr. King, or Henry Ford doing ANYTHING half heartedly-we MUST be passionate about achieving greatness; we MUST be passionate about becoming leaders-we MUST!

So why do we live? So we can leave a name better than it was given to us; so we can continue to live even after death in the thoughts and minds of those we leave behind. Oh what a meaningless life to live only to be forgotten after a generation. We must live to leave our mark! We must do everything with passion and greatness-we are not just living for ourselves, but for those to come. And we must be great so our children and our children's children, and their children, will will never be forgotten; if we do this neither will we! We will never die but rather achieve a sort of immortality that men have sought for all their lives!