You are the Light of the World

Our chance to touch the future

(An address to the Executive Committee of GSSAAA on Sunday February 6, 2011.)

It is a privilege for any group of people to be given the opportunity to reach over and touch the future and in so doing help mold and shape it and in general influence it for the better. We are presented with such an opportunity today. In the aftermath of an accident of history, we have been challenged to rise up and restore our alma mater in accordance with a design of our own choosing and, in so doing, make it a shining city on the hill, a guiding beacon of light and hope to our people; and a model of what is possible. We have not shrunk from this responsibility. Rather we have chosen to embrace it with humility and joy and do the needed work with grit and grace. That is why we are here tonight.

In the course of tonight’s executive meeting, we shall review all that we are doing and see where and how we might do things better. We shall talk things over with one another, exchange ideas and try and come up with the best way to proceed from here on.

As always our principal problem is not a lack of knowledge of what needs to be done but finding the funds to do what needs to be done. The most reliable source of funds remains our alumni body. It is you, our alumni, who have made the needed sacrifice and reached deep into your wallets to find the money that has supported our projects so far. We shall continue to count on you as the principal pillar of support for our projects. As always, donation to our cause is entirely voluntary. There is no compulsion whatsoever. You may give if you so desire. Please try to be generous but give only as much as you can afford. But bear in mind that no amount is too small to give.

The current drive by alumni of GSSA all over the world to raise $500,000 to invest in our alma mater should be given full support. It is within our power to achieve this goal if we are all willing to make a little sacrifice. Those able to donate $10,000 or more should do so. Those able to donate $1,000 or less should also do so. Donations will be confidential although in future we shall recognize donors appropriately in one form or the other unless someone chooses to remain anonymous in perpetuity.

Where things are done right, a people should always seek to leave a treasured legacy as a gift to the future. In modern times that would be in the form of institutions that endure and keep the peace and civil order; infrastructure that make life better, easier and convenient; schools and universities that prepare succeeding generations for the challenges of their time; and works of art and science that enrich the human spirit. Many of these achievements require the collective effort of citizens of a nation since they are often well beyond what individuals can do on their own. They only happen if people have the right mindset – if the prevailing zeitgeist is favorable.

Why can’t we, alumni of GSSA, collectively do uncommon things now for posterity that could make our kids and descendants and our nation proud in future long after we are gone? Chances are that “the world will little note nor long remember” what kind of car we drove or house we lived in or how expensive was the wine we drank or how well we played gulf or how expensive a vacation we took. But if we do something selfless and uncommon like doing a good job rebuilding and revitalizing GSSA, there is a chance that one hundred years from now, our descendants will still recall what we are doing today with pride. Today’s deeds will be part of the heritage of honor of that future. It is multiple acts like what we are doing today that make a people’s history worthy of respect and celebration.

The people who are looting government treasuries at all levels in Nigeria today, thereby depriving the nation of the funds needed for development, do not stop to consider what their legacy will be. They. live for the here and now – as if there is no tomorrow. They are willing to sacrifice our nation’s future on the altar of transient and purely selfish personal gain. Theirs is a truly “primitive” frame of mind, centered on instant gratification no matter the cost to the nation and her future. Let us set ourselves apart from them. Our selfless acts of personal sacrifice for the common good should stand in stark contrast to their self indulgent, shameful and criminal acts that subvert our national interest and stand to undermine and embarrass the future. That way we can be the much needed points of light in an age of darkness. Chances are that our acts of selflessness and sacrifice, befitting the alumni of a great academy, will not be lost on history. If in future our descendants and other Nigerians view what we have done with pride, we shall have reaped an enormous reward.

Finally, this morning, at Sunday mass, in Matthew 5: 13-16, which is a part of the sermon on the mount, just after the beatitudes, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ spoke to us as follows:

“You are the salt of the earth: but if salt loses its taste, with what will it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” This is the word of the Lord. Praise be to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Obi Nwasokwa, M.D., Ph.D., FACC
Chairman, Board of Trustees, GSSAAA
School Captain, GSSA, 1967-1970
Charles Low House, GSSA, 1961-1970