“It
is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do
not dare that things are difficult.” Seneca.
Time
and time again, when we look at history critically, people who have produced
phenomenal results are those who set goals that everybody else thought were
crazy and unrealistic, unattainable and beyond reach.
But
here is the truth. Come to think of it this way. If 25 years ago someone told
you that almost everybody will be walking around with a small electronic
device, the size of a credit card, would you have believed that person? No. You
would have labelled him an unrealistic person, a dreamer and probably a 'fool'.
But here you are with the cellular phone popularly called mobile phone. You can
use it to play music, take and send pictures, communicate with computers all
over the world, send and receive mail via the internet, the information super
highway etc. What has happened? Why is it now a reality? All that it took to achieve
such a feat is for somebody to think of the impossible as a possibility, a
reality. Mind you, the mobile phone was thought to be impossibility but today
it has been 'cheapened'. It has become a common household item.
Before
1903, who ever thought that there could ever be a flying machine? Who then
could believe the Wright brothers (Wilbur &Orville) were being realistic
where they set out to build a flying machine? The fact of the matter is that,
they were just bicycle repairers. And that was at a time when it was believed
that it was physically impossible for any machine heavier than air to fly. But
what the brothers believed was not impossibility but rather a possibility. A
“can-do attitude. That is why somebody said “the impossible is often the untried”.
Jim Goodwin. They therefore dared the impossible and made it a reality. They
changed their mind from the conventional way of thinking-'it can't be done, who
has ever done it before?' to 'we can do it.' These are defeatist statements
that do not produce any result. But what the Wright Brothers did is that they
created the mental picture of a flying machine. They saw it being possible in
their mind's eyes. You know! Things are created twice. First in the mind and
secondly in the physical, as tangible products. They believed it. Lo and
behold! By setting themselves up to the task and devising means and ways and by
adopting strategies, they finally invented the first ever flying machine-the
aeroplane. Though the machine flew for only few seconds and came down and
crashed, it was a great success by all standards. They beat the odds and set
the tone for the aviation industry. Their efforts yielded results, yea,
positive results. Today, Wilbur and Orville's names are indelibly written in
the annals of History as the inventors of the first-ever flying machine. Every
school boy or girl in America and the world over knows about the Wright
Brothers. What a challenge to young men and women today!
Today
the world can boast of aeroplanes of various sizes and shapes and speed. What a
marvel! What a revolution! The Wright brothers revolutionised the
transportation industry especially air transport. Today who knows, perhaps we
will still be using horse- drawn carts or the slow locomotives, ships and boats
to travel to other places of the world. But thanks to the Wright brothers,
because today we have supersonic jets, jumbo jets of over 500 tonnes of weight
carrying over 330 passengers and crew flying at altitudes beyond eye's view.
That is the wonder of thinking possibility rather than impossibility. Today
Wilbur and Orville have their own names in the annals of the aviation industry.
Somebody said: ”The greatest danger is not that our aim to high and miss it
but, because our aim is too low and we reach it.” Please think big. Think
possibility.
On
25th May 1961, J.F. Kennedy the then president of America, addressing Congress,
challenged the American scientists to try to send a man to the moon. People
thought it was impossible to send man into outer space, let alone to the moon.
but the challenge kept coming from the president to the American people,
especially to the scientists. There and then, they decided to take up the
challenge from the president. The work then started. They started thinking up.
The scientists went to the drawing boards. The calculations and the
computations of distances between the earth and the moon. Mathematical
formulae, you name them. Nothing can stop a determined and a challenged mind.
Then
came the trial moments. They started sending satellites into space. This, when
proven successful was followed by unmanned spacecraft. Later on ,these
spacecrafts were carrying animals such as dogs, All this in the name of
experiment and testing.
Then
one day, yes, one fateful day when another chapter in the history of the world
was about to be written, three daring men, who were about to embark on a
'mission impossible' boarded Apollo 11,the spacecraft designed to take the
first men on the moon. Lo and behold, the Apollo 11 took off from NASA
launching platform called Pad 39.I really love these men who were about to have
their names written in the annals of History for ever and ever.
Finally,
Apollo 11 was in motion into space to the new land about to be discovered-our
moon. After four days of successful space journey, there they are near the
unknown celestial body. Adventure or Mission? No. Discovery. A new page in the
History of the world. A milestone to be reached. What was to follow was going
to transform and revolutionise the whole wide world and change the thinking
patterns and processes of the entire humankind. I believe at this time that
great fear gripped all the astronauts onboard Apollo 11.Then they started
encircling the moon since then unknown to human mind in details. Who will take
the first step out there and have his name indelibly written in History books.
Then one of them, Neil Armstrong mustered courage and taking the giant step of
faith jumped out of the spacecraft still in motion, and guided himself towards
the new land, the powder-fine grey dust that no man ever stepped on. I can
imagine the state of mind of the man about to set a world record and have his
name boldly written in GOLD in all the history books in the world. On July
20,1969, Neil Armstrong 'gallantly stepped his foot on the surface of the moon
and shouted to the entire world the following eternal and golden words: ”That's
one small step for man ,but a giant leap for mankind.” There you are,
impossibility becoming possibility. Man has finally reached the moon, which was
thought to be impossible, unrealistic, unattainable and beyond reach some years
ago. What a great achievement! what a human feat! History is written again by
daring minds who never believed the word impossibility. What started in the
mind of JF Kennedy has now seen the light of day, man on the moon. Today
countries are fighting for space on the moon. People are going on excursion and
playing golf on the moon. Research stations and other constructional works are
being built on the moon. Who could have thought about this before 1969? Wonders
of wonders.
What
you can conceive today is still possible in this generation. It happened
before; it can still happen today.
That's
about people. What about nations and states? Let me just share something brief
with you here about a country I love so much. It is the story s Singapore.
Do
you know that Singapore moved itself form a third-world country to a
first-world country within two decades? This was possible because one man by
name Lee Kuan Yew thought it to be possible. That man was accredited by all
Singaporeans to be the architect of Singapore's national and economic
development.
After
independence in 1965, the country had to face myriad of problems. With a small
population of about 2 million people and no natural resources, this small
island had to take its destiny into its own hands. But there is one more
problem, the human resource problem. Most of the population was uneducated and
made up of a lot of illiterate immigrants from China and India. As if to make
things worse for the newly independent state, about 70% of the economy which
was dependent on Britain was going to be suspended since the British are
pulling out of the island. What do you think could be going through the minds
of the leaders at that time. Impossibility of development in the near future.
It is also true that the island has no tin, no gold, no crude oil, not even
enough water to give potable water to the population. But do you know
something? No. I will tell you.
The
leaders, through the instrumentality of Lee Kuan Yew set big and ambitious
goals which seemed unrealistic to the ordinary men. No wonder, the country
achieved phenomenal transformation over the years. Rising from a poor
third-world country to a first-world country with a wonderful economic power
and a per capita income in the range of $ 50,000.00 is no mean achievement.
Today Singapore is mentioned among the world's top ranking economies alongside
USA, France, Germany, Canada and other Scandinavian countries. This feat was
achieved in less than 25 years. What a great challenge to other developing
countries, particularly Ghana, to desist from small thinking and incremental
goals and start thinking big and thinking about possibilities. Our African
leaders should start thinking big and making big plans for their countries
.This is what can turn impossibilities into possibilities. The challenge is
still the same today. Somebody rightly said it: ”The impossible is often the
untried.” As if to paraphrase Napoleon Hill who said whatever the mind can
conceive, if the heart can believe it, then the hands can achieve it.
Therefore, let us think possibility instead of impossibility. For therein is
magic.
Finally,
I would like to make a passionate appeal to all Ghanaians and Africans in
general. We can make it happen in our lifetime, just in our generation. It is
possible. All that we need to do is to start dreaming big and thinking
possibility. We must also change our mindset about a lot of things and issues
which have become conventional, that is, the status quo. We must therefore
embrace the 'can-do' attitude. Even the Good old Book said it right that all
things are possible to him that believes (Mark 6:13). It is only through this
we can make this country a haven and a real home for our children and our
children's children. Yes, indeed, the
IMPOSSIBLE IS POSSIBLE
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