GREATEST DISCOVERY OF ALL TIME

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 Raveling back into history; some centuries ago, describes a time when heroes existed, inventors invented and timeless scientists did some great life-improving discoveries. The discoveries and inventions include these few out of many; aircraft by the Wright brothers, copernican system by Nicholas Copernicus, evolution theory by Charles Darwin, electricity by Michael Faraday, the first functioning light bulb by Thomas Edison, gravity described by sir Isaac Newton, telephone by Alexander Fleming, the big bang theory by Georges Lemaitre, Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity, DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick, HIV/AIDs by Inc Montagnier etc. the list proved itself inexhaustible. At some points individuals and groups pause to attempt justifying one of these discoveries and inventions to be the greatest one among others. Philosophically, their attempts of assigning greatness to one discovery conform to one of the many rules of logic which reads as thus; one out of two or more items/ideas has to be the correct /best/greatest of all. Put it this way, that rule of logic suggests that no two things can assume the same position. One has to be correct, the others incorrect. It’s another way of saying, in life its either black or white, no shades of gray. If you are ask, which one of the discoveries would you assign greatness to? Interesting, writing this article, I’m not referring to the above scientific discoveries and innovations when I titled the article “greatest discovery of all time.” I aim at discussing an undiscovered gift, talent and blessing to humanity, which when and only if, discovered will be the undisputable greatest discovery, not just for now, but of all time. It’s what I call ‘self discovery.’

            What is self discovery? It is the act and process of personal-self searching and recognizing one’s already existing peculiar qualities, abilities and strengths which when committed to work, should be able to add value to humanity.  This is true with the above mentioned inventors and scientists; before they invented or discovered anything, they had discovered who they really are and have committed themselves to work. Now, your mind is beginning to agree with me that the greatest discovery isn’t the telephone or the large metal tube suspended in air, the aircraft, not the electricity, not even the amazing discovery of the DNA molecule. The greatest discovery is discovering who you are. Nothing can be done or achieved without the doer or achiever discovering him/her self.

  Just before you ask; is self discovery really important? Why shouldn’t I just graduate from college and be like other people out there, who work for money, earn the money, have a peaceful home then die? Most youths call that their dream. I wonder if that’s a dream anyway.  But that is a self limiting ‘dream’. Let’s share my thoughts on this crucial issue. A lot of discoveries are yet to be done on the DNA molecules. Ideas are yet to be given birth to. Even the human body itself has formed an extended field of scientific research where millions of people are working selflessly to make their little contributions to these fields. When it comes to self discovery it’s almost a one-man’s job. Even though you may have mentors and counselors, the major work of discovering your potentials rests on your shoulders. If you do it well, fine. If you don’t, it’s entirely nobody else’s problem. It’s all yours. Let me add here, and this is very important, ‘when you wake up some day and realize you aren’t successful in life, you have no right whatsoever to blame other people as being the reason or cause of being unsuccessful’. A lot of people live in regret and they put all blames on their parents or the society for that. When you get to discover yourself, that is the material you’re made of, nobody will come later in life to dispute this particular discovery of yourself. Many scientific discoveries have suffered severe rejection over time. Here’s the truth I’ve come to know,” you either discover who you are, which is good for you, or you copy what you never are.” And I hate it that the later is the commonest and the most reoccurring one. We’re never made the same, thus our gifts and talents are certainly different, all to make our world a balanced habitat; where one’s lacking is complimented by someone’s abilities. To discover yourself, you have to start it now! No age limitation. Ben Carson did his at a very a tender age. McDonald did his when he was above 50 years. The good news is that they will never die losers. Give your dreams wings to fly. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams!

To discover yourself, the first step I believe is to begin to take responsibilities; of yourself, of others and of situations. The contrary I’ve come to realize, it’s simple, people don’t take responsibility even of themselves because they fear commitment- they are lazy! Some fear criticism, they are the weak souls. Secondly, I believe we are to start committing our beautiful ideas to work. The right words of Albert Schweitzer, “the tragedy of life is not that we die, but what dies inside a man while he lives.” And Ralph Waldo Emerson confirmed it in his words, “neither you nor the world knows what you can do until you have tried.” Thirdly, you should pay keen attention to your inner voice and obey what it says without question. The truth is, you have to follow your heart, without leaving your brain behind, if you must have peace of mind.

 Think of it, America has the best economy in the world because there are a lot of successful multi-billion dollar businesses and organizations. Owners of those firms started with almost nothing at hand. They had ideas buried deep inside their brains and they gave themselves out to try something they weren’t sure of the result, they took risk and they risked the little they had. Today, these successful icons would have been in regrets if they had not freely sold themselves to their dreams. Has this occurred to you that most of the successful public images are citizens of America?  The government of the US never provided grants or financial aids to these icons, they did some self-searching, discovered what they are good at, and what they love doing, they finally committed themselves to it, whether or not there was security in it, they don’t care, all they wanted to be was to be successful and their minds were made up. No discouragements from friends, family and the decaying society could change their concrete-built decisions, neither recession nor the great depression of the 1930s was successful in making them quit. The outcome is that together they made America arguably the greatest nation in the world. Nigeria can only trace its path to greatness when you and I, the hope as we are, discover our real selves and ignore what or how the ignorant society describes or wants us to be. When we become successful in our finances and careers, we are making Nigeria successful in her economic status. The ‘Nigerian factor’ as many will call it will not stop those who are really out to make a difference. Ibukun Awosika, a successful Nigerian woman who made it to the top starting with almost nothing like other successful figures affirms that, “ I come from a place where there are opportunities staring you in the  eye, but its looking for the people who have the heart and courage to do it and do it right.”

Here’s my widow’s myth of advice; don’t wait on the right government to come and make Nigeria conducive for you to be successful, that government will never come. Work yourself to becoming independent. Start taking responsibilities of what should happen to and in your life. Do not be a product of life circumstances but the circumstances surrounding your life should be the product of your intentional decisions. Be in control, knowing God rules over all. Finally, the best advice for you is coming from a man who is one of his kind, the 45^th US President, Donald J. Trump. He said, “There’s nothing more criminal and self-destructive than having a great idea and then putting it off.” In two words, Socrates summarized this article when he said, “know thyself.”