Discover Your Greatness: Pursue your passion, not your pension

"Your pension takes care of you; your passion serves you and the world." -I.K. Otchere-Asamoah

Before, it was 'go to school, get good grades, secure a prestigious and reliable job, work for 30 to 40 years of your life, go on retirement, and get a gold watch as a reward for the service to your employer', but this is an old paradigm.

There is no such thing as job security anywhere in the world. There are no more guarantees in employment nowadays; you could be told not to return to work at the end of your shift without any proper notice. Trade and employment unions are no more a safeguard or protective entity for employees as it used you be.

Employees are implicitly left without defense in virtually every workplace across the globe though the situations and conditions may be distinct from one country to another.

As a result, there's a global quest for the pursuit of passion - what one really enjoys doing and has been wired to do in life. Passion is that which innately stimulates satisfaction and meaning in one's life. On Tuesday August 8th, 2012, the American stock market lost over 1 trillion dollars just within a day. This was a phenomenal loss.

Let me use the Gross domestic product (GDP), which denotes the market value of all final goods and services produced in a country, to explain the gravity of the loss at Wall Street. A trillion dollars is the annual GDP of countries like South Korea, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, etc.

Even powerful countries like Canada and Russia are a little above a trillion-dollar in their annual GDP, and just within a matter of a day, all this money was lost in the stock market due to the news of the downgrading of the credit rating status of the United States of America from "AAA" to "AA+." This event also caused a rippling effect across the globe from Europe, via the Middle East to Asia as well as other parts of the world.

When an event of such magnitude sweeps across the globe, companies and institutions panic and tend to cut down on expenditure, outsource some of their services and production, make some jobs redundant or downsize their employees. With all these uncertainties in the global market and employment, if there is any time in history to really consider pursuing your passion, it is now!

See, with the dawn of the information age came the era of specialized knowledge. The awakening of "special" gifts and the pursuit of passion partly owing to the fact that in this era, the world has become a virtual global village, setting up the stage for people all over the world to share information (as well as their knowledge specialization and gifts) at the speed of light.

Suddenly, location (city or town), race, gender, level of education, and economic status has become irrelevant. All that matters currently is your contribution to and impact on this age. Even if you are in a remote village in the jungles of the Amazons of Brazil or the rocky mountains of Nepal, and you have something to offer to the world, people would have access to you via technology and your gifts would be served to the world.

This era has given every citizen of the globe a fair and equal chance, and a platform to contribute to the world. Now, no one can really blame governments, society, family history, and pedigree, or lack of education for the lack of their success or exposure.

Since the world is widely accessible to anyone who is ready to make an impact in any department of life but sadly people are incessantly pointing figures at governments, the rich, and multinational companies for their economic woes because they refuse to pursue their passion.

The 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, declared on the day of his inauguration that, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".

I am saying all these to make you aware that this is the time to take control of your own destiny by pursuing your passion like your whole life depends on it and in fact it does. Governments can't even give assurance of any reliable pension scheme due to these economic instabilities.

I, therefore, challenge you to find what your passion is in life and pursue it with precision, focus and tenacity ; for your passion was meant to serve the world which would implicitly benefit you, while your pension is only intended to take care of you. The life of Martin Luther King Jr. epitomizes the power of the pursuit of true passion;

Born into a lineage of pastors, his grandfather and father both served as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Martin Luther received a B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College; a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated.

After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class and was awarded the Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) in 1951. He went on to enroll in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955.

With all these accolades and opulence, one may think King Jr. would flinch from the hardship and injustice hampering the freedom and liberty of the Negroes, but Martin Luther had a passion (a dream). In 1954, Martin Luther King became the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

His passion for seeking equality for all men took him to Montgomery, Alabama, where his beliefs, ideas, and character were tested. His father Martin Luther King Sr. expressed his disappointment in Martin Luther king Jr.'s decision to break the family tradition and pursue his heart desire but King Jr. was totally consumed by his passion, the civil rights movement.

In 1957, he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to facilitate new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The paragon for this organization he took from Christianity; its modus operandi from Gandhi.

He trekked over six million miles and gave over twenty-five hundred speeches, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action within the space of eleven years between 1957 and 1968.

While in Birmingham, Alabama, Martin Luther King Jr. led massive protests that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience, inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," a manifesto for the Negro revolution. He organized the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters and he led the peaceful march in Washington, D.C. of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "I Have a Dream."

Martin Luther King, Jr. became the youngest man ever to have received the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of thirty-five. When he was informed of his selection, he announced that he would use the prize money of $54,123 to promote the civil rights movement.

In his speech on August 28th, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., he declared: I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist, Edward Morgan Forster said, "One person with a passion is better than forty people merely interested."

No matter where you are in the world, the fruits of the pursuit of the passion of Martin Luther King Jr. have had an impact on your society or life one way or the other. If he had followed the traditions of fathers (pension) and not his true passion, the world would have been deprived of the opportunity to enjoy the produce of his gifts and calling.

Remember, your pension will always take care of only you but your passion would serve the world, even long after your departure to meet your Creator. Passion goes beyond interest and hobby; it is that which stirs up your spirit and ignites a fire in your belly. To ensure that what you are pursuing is your true passion not just an interest or hobby, the following questions need to be seriously considered:

- Who am I? – Why am I here on planet earth? What is the meaning of my existence? What can I contribute to civilization in a positive way? These questions help you to answer the reason for your existence and assist you to distinguish what you do from who you are.

Your passion in life might not be the job you're doing right now. Thus, don't tie your worth or value to what you do (your job), or your performance (success or failure).

It is funny when you meet people they tend to ask the question, "what do you do?" (the profession question). People care about what you do, wear, or drive more than who you are, but it must, however, be the other way round. Above all things, your focus must be on the discovery of who you are. Ask yourself these:

- What Do I Love Doing? – The answer to this question commences with activities that bring you pleasure to the ones that make you come alive. What do you enjoy doing so much that you would even sacrifice your sleep to do or would do it for free? Passion is not something you do because it is convenient or popular; you pursue your passion even when times are hard, people you trust desert you out of disbelief and you even feel like giving up but there is a "fire in your belly" that wouldn't let you. It is something you believe in even until death. The lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and other prominent men in history attest to this fact.

- What Are My Strengths And Natural Gifts? – Recognizing your strengths and things that come to you naturally would help you focus and exert your energy appropriately. Bear this in mind, your natural gifts or strengths may not seem attractive to you or people around you, and most times friends and loved ones may even scorn that gift until it is refined and exposed to the public, then your naysayers would jump on the bandwagon.

Most people including our loved ones take the "let's wait and see" stance when it comes to supporting, endorsing, or even encouraging you in the days of "small beginnings," even though they scruple to vouch for you however, don't be tempted to join them to scorn your own gift or calling. Stay positive and hopeful.

- What breaks my heart? Compassion - What situation or lack do you see in the world pricks your heart? What problems are you intrinsically attracted to solve among friends, in your family, community, country, or world at large. What can move you emotionally to render an unsolicited assistance? "True compassion means not only feeling another's pain but also being moved to help relieve it," Daniel Goleman.

Passion is synonymous to enthusiasm, which has its root meaning of "to be inspired" or literally meaning "God inside". Thus, pursuing your passion means going after an activity that excites you, makes you can alive and feel divinely inspired to do.

Your passion may not attract financial reward from your beginning, that's why I would advice you keep your job while developing your passion; Soon your passion would outstrip your job then you can let go of your job and engage in something that excites and inspires you while getting paid.

As a student, if the course you engage in doesn't excite or inspire to burn the mid-night oil or go the extra mile than your contemporaries, then reconsider that course. As a professional, if you don't feel the urge to start earlier than everyone and stay late, then start searching for your passion.

As a teacher or a professor, if the thought of the greatness of your students doesn't impel you to sacrifice beyond your call of duty, then find your passion.

As a politician, if the sight of the jobless young people milling about in your community or the debilitating state of the economy of your district, region, or nation doesn't break your heart almost to tears to force you to act regardless of your party affiliations , then go hunt for your passion.

As a man or woman of God, if the economic, psychological, physical, or spiritual plights of your congregants do not prick your conscience to properly disseminate the Word of God to meet their expectations, then go look for your passion.

Comrades, whatever you have found your hands doing currently, give it a hundred and ten percent. Do it with excitement and commitment, and if you discover you don't have the enthusiasm for that job or work, then please start pursuing your passion.

Ralph Waldo Emerson believes that, "Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." May God give you the grace to discover where your passion lies in life so you can rise above and beyond the mundane and repetitive uninspired job, to become influential and significant in the course of life and in the history of humanity.