CHAMPIONS

I hope you will agree with me that the world is controlled by people who have become champions in their field. Honestly whether you and I agree, the truth cannot be denied. Nobody wants to follow a mediocre. I am sure neither do you. We all seek an upward thrust in our lives. We seek ways to be better and quite frankly we seek ways to fit into the larger society. As a result of these quest and many more, you and I are under the influence of champions. I do not mean heavy weight champions in the boxing arena or the royal rumble, I mean those people who have become so outstanding in their field that they subtly influence us. It is a common thing to hear us wanting to live or be like certain people. Irrespective of tribe or color, we tend to tilt towards champions and we consciously or most times unconsciously want to pattern our behavior and sometimes career after them. I am also guilty of this; though it is not an offense. I was strongly influenced by Les Brown and still am as speaker. I am sure that by the time we are through together in this interesting voyage you will admit that even our schools are simply the thoughts of certain people who were the champions in their field during their days. Whether dead or alive I have seen that most of our actions are primarily controlled by what we have seen these champions do. This was my major thrust at a conference I spoke at sometime in 2007. It was such a wonderful event that will linger in my mind for a while. For many reasons but there is one that I will like to share. The events of this conference propelled me to start another survey and I soon saw that all we do is mostly as a result of the influence certain people exert on us. You cannot really move and shake the world and cause a level of influence if you are not a champion. As a matter of honesty, I am trying to figure out which area of human existence is not controlled by the influence of champions. The fashion world is a practical example of the subtle influence that champions have over us. I see teenagers lowers their trouser, jean, chinos and even school trousers and shorts and I wonder where did they learn this from and who in the world permitted them to lower their trousers and show off their butts. A funny and interesting sight. Isn’t it a wonder that all our dancing steps and dressing styles are patterned after certain people? It is not a function of whether the dance is great or not, the point is who the originator is or who does the dance. We want to talk, walk, act, smile, dress and do almost everything like they do. I was watching a movie that was centered on David Beckham. I saw how people got around and studied a man doing his thing and they had to do a movie of him and his craft. Oh that is not the only one I have seen. We make them heroes and celebrities and we even write their names on our clothes. We literally adapt to and adopt the way we see them walk and act. If you look at the religious sect you will see that there is amazing level of modeling that you almost wonder if people still had a mind of theirs and an identity. Thou shall not get this wrong. I am not saying that modeling is wrong; I am only trying to show you how we get so entangled with champions that they practically dictate most of what we do and prefer. There was also this movie done on Pastor Adeboye of the redeemed church. Will smith went as far as doing something like Mohammed Ali. I can go on and on to show you that our every day life is influenced SUBTLY by these rare breed of people called CHAMPIONS. Now, at the conference that I spoke of earlier, some guys came to do a beautiful presentation. We all laughed and had fun. All they did was simply influenced by champions. At a point they began dancing like Bob Marley and actually singing like him. They did it so well that you would think Marley was on stage. They also did something like Charles Dickens. They did a great job but all was done under the influence of dead men who were champions while alive. I have done training programs on this topic and it is fascinating to see how the audience responded to the champions that made the table of discuss. I have been fascinated with the lives of people like Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey, Ben Carson, Nelson Mandela and Bishop T.D Jakes to mention a few. I have studied their lives and I have indeed learnt a lot. I am still learning from them and I hope I will be able to keep doing that. I hope that their lives will never become a warning like the lives of some champions have become.