I am a fan of history. I am one who enjoys antiques and artefacts. One thing that always stands out about the days of old is the craftsmanship. This craftsmanship simply does not exist in the world of today. The age of masters and greatness is not one enjoyed by the modern generation. My question is why? Why is that the case? Has greatness really ceased to exist?
It’s been an extremely long time since I’ve written. As I am typing this, I can feel the cogs of my brain struggling to find synchronisation to link words to thoughts. But that is the purpose of this entry. I enjoy writing. I believe that my God-given gift is to be a thinker. I genuinely believe that. Hence, I enjoy writing. Hence, I love my job as a lecturer. But there’s a part of me that realises that I am not fully exploring this God-given talent of mine.
It was the motivational speaker, Les Brown, who once said that on our deathbeds, we should be afraid and worried about the ghosts of unrealised dreams visiting us. He said that they will stand by our side and ask why did we never have the bravery and courage to pursue them. They would ask why we let them die.
When one reads the histories, one sees the greatness of men unfold. History is filled with stories of mathematicians such as Archimedes who once moved a large ship with two hands proving his theory of leverage, Leonardo Di Vinci is famously quoted to have said that he has offended God and mankind for not reaching the highest quality in his work. Yet Leonardo Di Vinci is responsible for the most famous artwork of all time, the Mona Lisa.
Even as we enter the modern era, we have Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak who indeed changed the world through technology with Apple. And one might argue that these people were famous and found success publicly. This is true. But even in the ordinary men of days old, the art of craftsmanship never ceased to exist.
Buy old books, when you read them you can feel the author’s thoughts. They are not edited and shaped because Google Trends and Google Analytics suggested to them what sells. Buy old furniture, you can feel where the carpenter carved the wood. Even ordinary people of days of old took time to master their respective crafts. They may have not found success, but they contributed to their communities through their respective craftsmanship.
And even I who feel my mind is my servitude to the world, there are numerous philosophers all over the history books who have contributed to society. African communities are ones of communal sharing so most of our philosophers offered knowledge without the need for recognition. We know of ancient Greek philosophers and those guys but history tells us that they got their knowledge from places such as Alexandra in Northern Africa. However, it does not tell us the African philosophers who guided them.
I don’t want to get into that debate as the point of this entry is that of masters and craftsmanship. Why is it that the world of today lacks these masters? It has been stated that we live in the golden era of mankind. We living in times of abundant freedom, and relative peace and we are not suffering as a people. Yes, there are parts of the world where poverty and wars still ravage the lives of people but, overall, the world is living in a world of milk and honey.
And that’s where the problem is. There is nothing stimulating humans to be great. Think about it. A woman can post a picture of herself on Instagram or Twitter and have thousands of men telling her she’s beautiful. On the flip side of the coin, a man can look at a thousand women who are beautiful through his phone. In most cases, this man does not need to prove his worth to these women. Unlike his ancestors who had to hunt or survive wars to receive respect from his wife or wives, he can simply like a picture and slide in a DM. And the supply is limitless so if one doesn’t respond, he can slide into the next DM.
Jordan Peterson states that because there is no major responsibility for most men (and women), the modern generation does not have any drive to tap into their inner potential. There’s nothing that compels them to work. If we read about ancient civilisations, they had no option but to work. The drummer who made drums for the kings and queens had to make those drums and make them good. He had to perfect or aim to perfect his craft in order to have his drums sold. In exchange, he will receive perhaps a piece of land to plant his crops, coins and precious stones to use as money or something of this nation. In today’s world, everything is instant and at one’s fingertips. I’m bored? There’s TV and social media. I’m hungry? I can go to the store and buy bread and milk. I’m sexually frustrated? The internet houses millions of women of all races fulfilling almost any fantasy you may have as a man. There is nothing that requires me to perfect or attempt to perfect my craft just to be alive.
What I mean by this is that many people find themselves just living without fulfilling their God-given talents. Yes, they might have a high-end job. They might be earning enough money to make their lives the dreams of others. But that person will die without having used their God-given talent to contribute to this world.
Yes, they might have lived. They might have had the V-Class and travelled the country with young university girls finding their womanhood. They might have had the money to travel the world. Indeed they might have lived their lives to the fullest but on their deathbed, the ghosts of unlived dreams will ask them why he never pursued them. Why did he let them suffer the same fate as he did.
You see, that which is God-given is eternal. That is why the Mona Lisa still exists today. That is why Apple is still changing the world. Under the Christian faith, the Bible states that we were made in the image of God. And that what He can do, we can do. Most pastors will focus on the prosperity side of things when they mention this. But one thing most people don’t notice is that we are made in the image of the Creator of the universe.
To create is a God-given talent. The ability to create is a God-given talent. To create art, to create philosophies, to create furniture, to even create viral TikTok videos, this is the gift given by the Creator to us. And sadly, most of us do not explore this creative side. Unlike the people of before, we have subdued our ability to create by the stimulation overload that exists in the world of today.
We are content to wake up, go to work, get paid to eat. Even though deep in our hearts we feel that this is not what life is meant to be. We are content looking through a myriad of beautiful women on the phone yet in our hearts we feel the coldness of an empty hug. We are slaves of the world we have created because the world we have created has made it easy for us to be alive.
Perhaps it’s time we switch off the TV. Perhaps it’s time we switch off the phone. Even if it’s just an hour. Perhaps it’s time we seek deep in ourselves and ask ourselves who are we and what are we giving to the world.
For me, I am Thando Xaba. And what I’m giving the world is my mind. This is my gift from the Lord to you. I pray it will serve you and the generations to come.
Opmerkingen