are you inspired?

i'm inspired.


back in my younger years (eons ago), i used to go to church camps every summer. the camp that i went most was called neotez (some native american word that means youth, i think). i loved neotez and anxiously looked forward to this 1 (or so) week every year. anyway, this neotez camp, somewhere in the middle heartland of america, was set on a beautiful piece of land, (almost) untouched by man. the massive trees, fields of grass, hills, valleys, rivers, lakes in the horizon just made this spot a perfect spot for a getaway (and also, of course, ready-ground for trouble making by teenage boys!). on this piece of camp land, there was a spot which was probably the favorite spot for most people. it was called inspiration point. i'm not sure how much inspiration went on at that spot, but only a 15-minute walk from the major camp grounds, lay this amazing spot of nature. if you liked a girl and wanted to impress her during a short recess, you would sneak her off to this spot and gaze at the amazing wonder (not that i did any of that, of course!). it was essentially a cliff (and not that high either), overlooking a river and some grass and trees. on a clear night the stars were most beautiful at inspiration point. on a stormy evening, the lightning was most pronounced there. daytime or sunset, dawn or sunrise, inspiration point was the place to be.

i went to this spot almost every summer from middle school until even after college, and tho i'm not sure how much inspiration i got, it definitely helped to put things in perspective and provided an opportunity to marvel at how awesome nature really was. hence i typically associate inspiration with nature.

a couple blog posts ago, i blogged about a blogger's crisis, not knowing what to make of this blog and not having the necessary inspiration to continue to write about myself. well...i am proud to say that i have not yet found an answer to what identity this space should take. i am equally proud to note that at least for this post (and maybe a couple to follow), I will continue to write about what interests me and things going on in my life. what's a blog if not self-indulging, no??! so in this search of inspiration, i of course went to the woods, watched the stars, took a walk around nature and arrived back at the same spot i was before. refreshed of course, but back to the city grind, having found no answers. what fun is life if answers are easy to find, right?

failing to find my inspiration in nature, i had almost given up, when i attended a work seminar and was treated to a guest speaker, professor nick binedell, dean of the gibs school of business in joburg. he was told to speak about his inspirational life and his journey as a white south african, very much involved in the struggle against apartheid. he spent about 4 seconds on that and decided he wanted to talk about other things that he's more passionate about than his life. he then spent the next hour encouraging us to find what brings us joy and doing it. in a room full of ambitious business/corporate types ("future leaders of SA!"), he challenged us to do what brings us joy and only then can you do "great work". and great work, he added, is often voluntary. some balls this guy had to tell a bunch of us looking for the next quickest way to make money, and tell us to go find something voluntary to do that'll make us great and potentially radically change the landscape of south africa. i loved it!

he spoke about only needing 2  things in life - a mirror and a map. the map tells you how you got into the room; and the mirror reminds you who you are and what brings you joy. he left us with a couple inspirational quotes:

1. in your lifetime, you can make africa work or crumble.
2. the world is your oyster, but you gotta go fetch it.
3. the most important thing is curiousity.

now none of this was earth shattering or groundbreaking. i'm sure at one point or another i have heard these saying before. but for some reason at this place and this time, it resounded to me. perhaps it was the search for something inspiration in my life that gave his speech meaning. perhaps it was my year-long itch to get back to doing meaningful work (both voluntary and otherwise). or maybe the discussions that i had with 2 south africans who gave a rather daunting evaluation of south africa's current standing. these 2, whom i deeply respect, told me in complete honesty and absolute sincerity that they would be leaving south africa soon because they honestly felt that the country was on a familiar collision course for disaster. maybe it was all of the above. whatever it was, i left that room wanting more. i went to speak to the prof in the hallway after his speech for another 30 minutes and i still wanted more. i was inspired!

so what now. i'm still inspired. but i still want more. more than just inspiration. how do i find what brings me joy? south africa is not my country, but i feel compelled to work to ensure that the dire and negative evaluation of some people about the prospects of south africa never come true. im not american but i want to do the same in america. im not african (cuz there's no such single thing...), but i desire to do the same across countries in africa. i'm inspired to do something. but what that thing is, i haven't a clue yet. i leave it up to fellow readers and bloggers to hold me to that inspiration. and to those who may have recently found their inspiration as well, lets get to work! lets find that map and mirror.

3 weeks in and really??

those that i talked to prior to starting the mba programme told me that this one year programme would be hectic with a lot of work and little time for much else.

what they failed to mention was just how diverse and interesting the people would be. admittedly, i was a bit anxious starting the programme. i feared it would be something similar to my undergraduate business school, full of cocky people who apparently loved the sounds of their own voices and couldn't seem to wait to start that hotshot job on wall street. ok not all of them, some of them are very good friends of mine; but generally, this was the feeling i got.

so my biggest fear coming in was that most people here would be like that, only this time it would be the johannesburg stock exchange and not wall street. but ive been absolutely pleasantly surprised at the quality and diversity of people here. there's still a bit of colour missing in terms of diversity, but in terms of life, world, and career experience and future aspirations, guys/gals are as different as they come. there are former actors, marketers, bomb makers/engineers, psychologists, insurance people, trusty IT consultants etc. also people from london, nigeria (not named me), turkey, some country in south america that ive honestly never heard of, botswana, south africa (surprising enough), US (really really surprising), canada (wha??), cameroon, italy, argentina, angola, etc. and even better, ive met an amazing number of people with similar aspirations to work in african development. imagine that: mba-ers doing good work! i like the sound of that. plus, most of them are wayyy more optimistic than i am about making a difference. maybe i can get my mojo back!

on a more serious note tho...wonder what would happen if more mba-ers were interested in helping ordinary people do extra-ordinary things. imagine ambitious people with management skills running NGOs and government organisations and non-profits and community organisations and making policy. would that be a better world? not saying only mba-ers can do a good job, but it seems like a good time for mba-ers to remake ourselves from the cocky bastards that speculate on currencies and bet on bad loans to cocky bastards that attempt to help those who cannot help themselves and leave the world a better place that how we met it. i know of at least one school thats trying to build such leaders.

Sawubona - I see you

I'm taking a break from my recent serious-ness topics and top 10 topics to discuss a movie in a...well...serious, yet not so serious manner.

Avatar

I keep talking to my artsy type friends about this movie and they don't seem to like it that much. and then others like it basically for the 3D effects, etc. I'm going on record to say that i thought it was a brilliant movie. Granted, it's a cliche story. yes, its been done many times in different forms. sure, the acting/dialogue left plenty to be desired. but i think its a story that cannot be told enough times. or rather, a story that needs to be told in more interesting ways, suitable to both adults and children, that tell of some of the atrocities and hawkishness that not only abound 400 years ago, but still remain today.

*********side note*********
i think i enjoyed this movie also cuz the scientist reminded me of my dad who used to work with plants from the amazon forest to try to extract nutrients or chemicals that he would use to make different kinds of medicines. his boss had a long standing relationship with the community that lived in the forest and used to travel there every year. proof that deals can be made on a human, non-threatening manner.
*********side note*********

back to subject at hand. Though the story focused around the americas and relationship of settlers with the native americans, i think its one that can be applied in most colonial histories. i read an interesting article (link below) with this intersting insert:

"Throughout the Americas the earliest explorers, including Columbus, remarked on the natives' extraordinary hospitality. The conquistadores marvelled at the ­amazing roads, canals, buildings and art they found, which in some cases outstripped anything they had seen at home. None of this stopped them destroying everything and everyone they encountered..."

Link to the rest of the article: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-01-12-mawkish-maybe-but-avatar-is-a-profound-important-film

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Anyway thats my shout out to the movie. Another interesting fact (see you come to this blog to learn, i just know it!): james cameron and his crew must have done a sht-load of research. kudos to them. did you know that "I/we see you" - a key phrase in the film - is a direct translation of "Sawubona"? Sawubona is the Zulu word for "Hello", but as the movie iterates, its meaning goes much deeper than that. If I see you, i'm acknowledging that you matter - everyone matters - that you are validated, respected, a valued member of the community. It's been described as an affirmation, an invitation to a deep witnessing and presence.

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I see it as the first step to ubuntu.

happy year of african football (YAF)

Lets not fool ourselves, this year, 2010, is not like any other year. its not like 2009 was just 2009 or 2008, etc. its not sufficient to just say happy 2010 this year, cuz that just doesnt tell the story. rather, i prefer to call this year the year of african football ('YAF' for short). I think that speaks a bit more to the importance of this year, so much more than merely 2010. I'm sure you will agree.

so anyway, here we are in the very first day of YAF and I hope that everyone's having a lovely one. I'm having a very relaxed one myself, after staying up most of last night. in my relaxed state, i thought i'd look back at last year and see what my resolutions were and if i'd resolution-ed them, and also what im looking forward to doing this yr. so here goes yet another list:

2009 resolutions:

• do more random trips to random places...check!: groot marico, kruger, natal, durban, uitkyk, limpopo, magaliesburg, hartbeespoort.
• go safari-ing...check!: kruger, couple places in botswana.
• be more involved in community...half-check!
• take the gmat; get my mba...check!: cape town here i come.
• find ways to enjoy my work...half-check!: botswana and a really interesting female flatmate and travel companion helped. [special note: thanks zama for making my bots experience that much more special and for tryin to teach me zulu when you know im a sucky learner and for insisting that others speak in english around me! never mess with a zulu-chik.
• eat more mangos...half-check!: can never have enough mangos. and dried mangos have been added to this resolution.

2010 resolutions:

• enjoy world cup 2010 to the FULLEST. it'll probly be a logistal nightmare and i will be a student, which means that ill have no money or time to do much. but...im enjoying the hype and i will continue to enjoy the hype. first time on african soil, its an event that i'll boast about to my grandkids one day and say "i was there". i love it!
• do bschool/mba. dont really have a choice here now that im enrolled, but make the most of it i will.
• be a man of my words. i.e. when i say that i'll do something, people should be able to trust that i will. not saying that i dont do that now, but lately i think ive disappointed a couple people, even though they wont say it, it makes me feel terrible. so i need to improve on that. with that goes, being there for, and doing all that i can, to help out friends and family.
• be more disciplined. spiritually and otherwise.
• do more outdoors. shouldnt be too hard in cape town. im thinking soccer, squash, tennis, hiking. open to adding other things to the list too (rugby??..)

one thing ive been thinking about lately, before YAF, was how the end of 2009 was not simply a year ending, but in fact the end of a decade. while thinking about the year that's passed and all its challenges and victories, i couldnt help but start thinking about the decade thats passed as well. yes, 10 years of living is a lot to think about but heres a challenge:

over the last 10 years, what are some events/decisions/things that you've been most proud of or that have shaped you the most and in what ways? additionally, what are you most looking forward to this year or in the decade to come.

those are daunting questions and even as i surveyed myself and my friends, we found it difficult to answer those questions at times. some even decided to run away rather than answer the questions! prof...

anyway, lots have happened in the last year, let alone the last decade (from graduating high school to varsity and the loss of a very dear friend to chicago to accenture to nigeria to south africa and gaining new very dear friends to cape town to barack obama to michael jackson and tiger woods and on and on). because of this, its really difficult for me to pick just one thing that i think has shaped me the most. since i introduced the topic tho, i would have to say one event that i think shaped me perhaps more than most has been my decision to move to south africa. included in that are all the lessons i've learned, interesting people ive met, and places ive experienced. i think that decision alone has brought about so many changes in my life and in my world view and it continues to do so. in the next few years, i plan on continuing to grow (personally, spiritually, relation-nally), basking in the glow of the african world cup, finishing up my mba and embarking on a brave new world of african development (however that may look like).

so how will you remember this decade? will you reminisce on opportunities gone by or challenges faced or giants you stared down and beat? will you be thankful that u at least laboured through it (at least there was no "third world war"...)? or will it be full of memories of good times, hardships, lessons learned, and growth? and more importantly, how do you want to shape the next decade, starting with YAF? what will change? how will it be remembered? what role will you have to play in it? its become trendy nowadays to say that we dont have new year's resolutions, but i hope we all have some general plans of what we want to happen or what we're most looking forward to. and i hope we all seek out what role we're to play; what gives our lives meaning, one decade/year/month/minute at a time and strive for that.

In the words of the great JayZ: may the best of our today's be the worst of our tomorrow's!

Happy YAF.