For your health
NND IS NOT A HEALTHCARE PROVIDER BUT IT IS PART OF IT’S PUBLIC SERVICE TO USE EXPERTS IN ALL AREAS OF LIFE TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL
Speech Title: Excellence in Service
Thank you for the opportunity to express my profound gratitude to you for your undeserved generosity towards me. One of the great honors a man desires is to be loved and accepted by the people from whom he came.
I still remember where I was at the hospital when I received a call from Chief Charles Okebalama, your effective president, informing me of the decision of this exemplary association to create a scholarship in my name. I was not only surprised and humbled by this honor, but became speechless when he mentioned that no similar honor had been conferred on anyone else except the founding principal of this great institution. As I listened to the reasons for this decision and the wonderful things said about me, I wondered whom he was talking about. After I pinched myself to make sure I was still on this planet, I called my brother from another mother, Dr Sampson Ogbuchi, to share the wonderful news with him. He reminded me that he heard the news before me since he is a member of the association. As he spoke, I became acutely aware of his deep sense of gratitude to his alma mater, principals, teachers, students and parents who had contributed in producing these wonderful men that have impacted the world and are continuing to make a difference in the lives of many.
With each day, I continue to strive to become a better version of myself, understanding that excellence is not just an act but a habit. The excellence that matters to the universe is not measured by the size of my certificate, intellect nor bank account. It is measured in service. Does my education or life uplift my neighbors? Does it bring joy to people? Does it promote the good samaritan spirit in me and others? This must be demonstrated by a purpose driven life that compels us to work for the creative redemptive good will towards all of mankind.
There is nothing I can say to this great alumni body that will be news to any one of you, therefore I hope to use this opportunity to address the current students who will become the old boys of tomorrow.
Excellence is only achieved in love. When you love as God loves, success is predictable.This love for neighbor is the key that makes the universe conspire in your favor. It will bring you wisdom and knowledge while making you very hard working and creative.The Lord of the universe will direct your path and mind to greatness.The case of Prophet Moses illustrates this fact. He lived one hundred and twenty years. In the first forty years of his life, he thought he was a somebody. In his second forty years, he found out he was a nobody, but in his final forty years, he found out what God can do with a nobody.This nobody became one of the most consequential figures in the Judeo-Christian world. His mission was to free the Israelites from captivity and bondage at the expense of his comfort and possible death.This was a purpose driven life controlled by his desire to serve others.
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, asked the Master to give them first place in his kingdom.They vowed to drink the same cup Jesus was to drink and be baptized with the same baptism all in anticipation to be given positions of importance and leadership in his earthly kingdom. He offered them the same cup of suffering through which he taught them that true greatness or importance is earned through service and personal sacrifice.They learned that true greatness or excellence is earned not by favoritism but by fitness. This means that everybody can be great or excellent because everybody can serve. Jesus redefined the true meaning of greatness. Whoever wants to be the greatest among you must be your servant, just as Jesus came to serve and not to be served.
Joseph labored and suffered while God was preparing him to save the whole world from starvation.This man sold into slavery by his own brothers became a prime minister because he was excellent in hard work, righteousness and forgiveness.If you want to be great, be a Moses or Joseph, be Dr Akanu Ibiam or Dr Michael Opkara.These men did not have big houses nor bank accounts but when they died they left us a committed life to emulate.They were excellent in service!!!
True greatness is not achieved by the size of the person but by a committed heart. If you cannot be a tree,be a plant, if you cannot be a highway, be a path. Just strive to be the best in whatever you do. If it falls on you to be a truck pusher, push the truck so well that even the unborn cannot do it better. If you do well in small assignments,the big one will come your way. To he who has will more be given.
I am not the smartest man on earth as you can see by my following encounter with some young boys in Alabama, but I know I can serve. Sometimes, I take a break from my practice of medicine and travel around to give motivational talks and share some of the miracles I witness in patient care. One beautiful afternoon, I was traveling to speak in a church somewhere in the state of Alabama and my GPS stopped working. I was unable to locate the church since I did not have a physical map.I thought I was lucky when I saw a group of young boys about nine to ten years of age. I stopped and asked them if they knew the direction to the Church of Twelve Apostles. They gave me directions, but before I left one of them asked me what I was going there to do. I told him that I was going to preach there and show them how to go to heaven. He looked at me with a smile on his face and said, ” Mister, who are you kidding? You want to show them how to go to heaven but you don’t even know how to get to the church”
They all laughed. While this is a favorite joke of mine, it underscores the inquisitive nature of young minds that need freedom to express themselves.
The graveyards contain the bodies of men and women that have passed through this earth.They had dreams both fulfilled or unfulfilled.Some made a difference in the lives of others while others did not. What will your legacy be? What will you be remembered for?
I am blessed to have crossed paths with many people who have changed my life. Apart from humanity that has touched me one way or the other, my parents and Chief James C Oguchi and his wife, Lady Patricia Oguchi transformed my life into who I have now become. Chief and Lady J.C.Oguchi not only loved me as God loves, but they awarded me an academic scholarship from college through graduate school to medical school.They did the same for many people without seeking recognition.This is greatness personified.The examples set by these giants have made me realize that true greatness is earned in service and sacrifice. Life has a meaning if lived for others as they did.
It is because of their lives that I refuse to cry out with Shakespeare’s Macbeth that life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing. I would rather see the meaning of life through the eyes of the Master who refused to come down from the cross in his redemptive sacrifice and in the awesome eloquence of his silence, he conquered death.
I strongly advise you to seek excellence and greatness through hard work, righteousness and the pursuit of wisdom.These old boys jumped many obstacles to gather here today to work on your future while celebrating the legacy of this great institution. I join you in pursuing the same, so that one day when I meet the world’s most common denominator called death,I will not wonder what I want my family and friends to say; therefore like Dr Martin Luther King Jr., I leave these words with you today. If you are around on that day, please tell them not to have a long funeral nor a VIP lounge.If you have somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long.Tell them not to mention that I had some awards and tell them not mention where I went to school.
I want someone to mention that I did try to feed the hungry. I did try to clothe the naked. I did try to visit those who were in prison. I did try to love somebody. I did try to bring comfort to those who were sick and all the other shallow things of life will not matter. If I can convince someone to overcome the fear of death in order to be free; If I can spread and live the message as the Master taught, then my living will not be in vain.
Go on and challenge the status quo and study outside the box. Find out why all the African countries except Ethiopia were colonized. Find out how we can free ourselves from mental slavery and be proud of our heritage. Find out how we can free the future generation from greed, love of money and power which have led us to surrender our land to foreign powers.
Go out and walk into the divine storage of knowledge and wisdom and strive to harness the secrets of technology to make the world a better place.The future depends on your decision because God has endowed you with a creative mind and power. The Almighty has given you a choice between life and death. Please choose life and pursue hard work, wisdom and righteousness, and the God of creation will command the universe to conspire in your favor to achieve excellence in life.
Thank you for the opportunity to express my gratitude.
Long live Ngwa High School.