19: Eventually

When strength is applied unto any given task, success is almost assured. It is therefore very important that we know exactly what it is we hope to achieve before we begin any activity.

I have noticed the care and precision bordering on the magical that some people apply to the preparation of a one-off event say a party, convention, wedding, sports competition or anything of that mold.

They begin to gather resources together, mobilize men and women to come to their aid and apologize for past wrongs in order to make a success of this one off event. This to my mind is all well and good. My only issue is when this is done with a short term perspective.

I’m talking about preparing for an event without preparing for ‘eventually’. What is ‘eventually’? Eventually represents every thing that should follow after an event. The institutions and systems that should make the one-off event have continuous significance.
The pillars and foundations that had been sunk into the ground before the event to ensure your efforts will not have been in vain.

Whenever Nigeria has hosted a major sporting tournament, we build a new stadium or refurbish the old ones. We buy buses and other sporting equipment only to let them all rust after the tournament. The care that was taken to plan the event is not applied to preserving the investments made.

The same can be said of weddings, when people take especially great care to prepare for a wedding and do not spend as much time and attention to planning the marriage that should follow the wedding. You see a heavy budget wedding leading to a very unhappy marriage. Sad don’t you think?

How about the last primaries of the political parties? We saw heavy expenditure applied to producing ‘candidates’ for different positions. In the process of picking them, many members have become aggrieved and are already plotting the destabilization of the campaigns of the ‘victors’.

My concern is that in all the things we do going forward; we should give a thought to how our efforts will be sustained. The last thing I want for myself or for anyone I know is to be a ‘has been’, a flash in the pan or a one night wonder.

That your every effort may be sustained and yield success for you and countless generations is my sincere prayer. May your every effort yield fruit that will last, God bless and have a great year ahead.