Our hands without doubt are among the most precious gifts nature has bequeathed on every member of our race. Everyone is called to acquire full mastery over his thoughts as a means of bringing the hands into maximum coperation with his or her own thoughts. This goes to validate the saying that no man can rise above his dreams. We are the sum total of our thoughts, dreams and aspirations. Everyone, young or old is called to take full and not partial responsibility for his existence. The most important question to ask at this point is “what do you have in your hands”?
The majority of successes at any point in our lives come from the immediate utilization of what we have at that moment and not and not what we expect to accomplish in the future. Fold your hands and you will end up in penury. For the youths of the twenty first century to achieve what has never been achieved in the history of mankind, they need a rededication to the talents nature has bequeathed unto them. It does not matter how latent those talents may be lying in them now but how soon they are awakened from slumber to life.
Everyone comes into the world with a message for mankind. Wrapped in the baby’s small fist at birth is a “letter” to the world. It must be read to the world because our existence is all about reading this letter. The future of mankind depends on us that are alive today. The future today does lie in our hands. There can not be a better tomorrow if we remain tomorrow what we were yesterday. “Be the change you want to see in your world” says Ghandi. What are you going to do about the vast body of knowledge bequeathed to us by our predecessors? What becomes of science and technology? What becomes of the arts? Sure, we are not expecting Newton or Shakespeare to come and cheer the course of creativity.
The creative power of the youth is like a dam and must be channeled in the right path or the world is bound to reap the “flood” of creativity routed in the wrong channel. I guess it won’t be too hard for us to imagine the consequences of having a creative nuclear physicist turned pro alqueda or a molecular biochemist join the ranks of biological terrorists. Surely, the world would reap the harvest of nuclear explosions and global epidemics of anthrax and maybe the ranks of other genetically engineered species never before thought capable of existence.
With all these in mind and our hands hanging from our shoulders, I am imploring that we all keep our hands busy doing some thing worthwhile that will outlive our names. I remember when Einstein was asked to leave active scientific research to become the president of Zionism, a Jewish movement; he declined and said his equations were of far more importance to him than their position. In his words, their presidency was temporal while his equations were for eternity. Dear twenty first century youths, dare to write your names in the sand dunes of history where neither winds nor angry tides will be able to wash them away.
Read more articles by Paul Allen or search for articles on the same topic or others.
