… how many times have we heard or even uttered the ‘if only’ phrase. It is the favourite starting phrase of the lazy person, whether it be mental or physical laziness. We could all do better or differently if the world was a different place, but the world is what it is and we are who we are and we are where we are, so we might as well just get on with it.
The number of times I have heard, “if only I had more support”, or “if only I was born into a different family”, or “if only I had more money”, “if only my parents were nicer”, “if only I was…” taller, shorter, slimmer or whatever. “If only more people responded to the call”, “if only more people in my networking group were active”, “if only my Pastor had more power”, “if only my Husband was more supportive”, “if only my wife was more submissive”, “if only I live abroad”, “if only there were no migrants in the country”, “if only we had good leaders”, “if only politicians weren’t liars”, “if only we were all of one race”, “if only there is no pain”, “if only I can eat whatever I like and not get fat”, “if only I can rest some more”, “if only things can be easier”, “if only human beings had three legs” etc.
Those that have changed and impacted the world and left footprints in the sand of time have first and foremost accepted the world as it is, they have accepted that humans do not come with three legs, that most come with two legs, some with one and even others with none and they have seeked to maximise that which they have, to make the best use of what they have, to stretch it to its optimal level. They have drained the status quo of every drop of its life blood. We can’t make everyone like us, that is not possible, but we still must seek to excel within the dislike, we must know how to eat our breakfast within a mile of the enemie’s watching gaze, in Col Jessup’s words we must learn to “eat breakfast three hundred yards from four thousand Cubans trained to kill …” us.
The ‘if only’ will get us absolutely no where, that is the vehicle without a wheel. It is toothless, it can’t bite. We must take the legs we have and run with it. What we don’t have, we don’t have, it can not produce or make way for us. The seed we don’t have can not be planted and will not germinate. What we have is our only hope. The 1% that will run is what we have to work with not the 99% that will not move. The haters that watch us eat breakfast might be the only fans we have for now, we must find a way to convert that energy into propelling fuel.
‘If only’ is the slogan, the watch word, the mission statement of the lazy, the ineptitude, the ones going absolutely no where, the sloth. We are not of these lot, we are the ones that change the world, the ones that run with the legs we are given, not lament what we don’t have. We glow within the gaze of the enemies without insisting the foes become friends.
‘If only’ will never be our watchword. Life is as it is and we are as we are, and we are mighty and will do exploit! You can’t quench it!
Beautiful Ivory 