LIFE AS WE KNOW IT - A Speech by Segun Dada

Professor Schmit, a German geologist was on a boat in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria to do a personal study of the effects of crude oil pollution on marine and human life. The boat was driven by an indigene named Bralador. 

While in the boat, he suddenly picks up a leaf and asks, do you know anything about biology? Bralador answers no, he tells him, you have lost 25% of your life. He then picks up a rock and asks, do you know anything about geology?  He answers no, he then says, you have lost another 25% of your life. He again picks up a decomposed piece of wood and asks, do you know anything about chemistry? His answer is again no, he then says you have lost 75% of your life and just while he is about to pick his next specimen, a storm arose and Bralador stands up and asks, sir, do you know how to swim in the waters of the Niger Delta? Professor Schmit answers no, Bralador shakes his head and says, Professor, you have just lost 100% of your life.

 

An international productivity consultant by name David Allen said “You can do anything, but not everything.” But through life, we have learned that individually, we know many things but collectively, we know all things.

That is life as we know it

Lawyers know life through the rigour of charging and bailing

Bankers through withdrawals and deposits

Doctors through admission and prescription

Preachers through evangelism and conversion

Professors through thesis and lectures

Toastmasters through speeches and evaluation

Through all of this, we get to understand that we are what we are not because of what we do but we do what we do simply because of what we know.

That is life as we know it.

We live in a world with 7 continents, over 250 countries, speaking hundreds of thousands of languages and a population of over 7 billion people but its not these numbers that get to me but the capacity of these numbers because as I wrap up my speech,

3.4 million Blogs would have been updated

10.2 million Comments would have been entered on Facebook

151 million Tweets on Twitter

3.14 billion Searches would have been entered on Google

320.2 billion Emails would have been sent

All of these by less than a quarter of the world’s population.

Now, that is life as we know it.

Life is Tough. We start out as sperm cells racing towards an egg, then become kids and assume the title of “commander in chief of family forces” having everyone in the family at our beck and call depending on how well we can cry. We then struggle as teenagers to discover ourselves, then as young adults we hustle to stand out from the crowd, then we get into the world of work and bustle to the top, then in our ripe old age, we mingle so as not to die.

Life is an Opportunity. Like a coin, it can be spent in anyway, on anything, on anyone, anyhow but can be spent only once.

Life is Precious. It is not the amount of breath that we take that matters but the amount of moments that take our breath away. The birth of a child, the day a man says I do and kisses his beautiful bride, the achievement of a goal and the fulfilment of a dream.

Life must be Lived and not feared. Marriane Williamson wrote in her book titled A Return to Love, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure, we ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous and talented? Actually, who are you not to be? ...We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us but in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously permit others to do same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others”

Ladies and gentlemen, this is life as we know it.

Speech given by Segun Dada at the Toastmasters Speech Competition