Inspirational Quotes for the WEEKEND

By Dr Charles Leyman Kachitsa

The age debate on elected public officers has always been with us globally since no one remembers when. More recently it has resurfaced in the USA with the candidature of the incumbent President vying for re-election. Across the African continent almost in all corners, it has at one point or the other been the focus of attention. Just to mention a few cases; in Zimbabwe on former president Robert Mugabe, in Uganda on the current president and has had been on the same talks in Burkina Faso, Togo and Senegal.

Interestingly in my country of birth Malawi, every time we are getting nearer general elections the topic has resurfaced time and again. The question would be can someone effectively be a leader beyond 70 years of age? I have on several write-ups addressed this question, I would believe conclusively. For instance in my article , \’age but is a number\’, it was argued that some people age faster, while others may be old in age but young in their vocation. Therefore ones age does not matter, the proper question is whether they are capable of delivering successfully in the office they are desiring to occupy.

This piece in re-igniting the topic has been prompted  by the emergence of an elderly musician in Malawi known as JETU who has taken the industry by storm. Paradoxically though she is at a ripe age of 71, her majority fan base seems to be the youth going by her recent well patronised shows at various universities in the country. Even her supporting stage aids are more the younger generation one of whom is her own grandson. She is proving to all that age is but just a number and that you can be supported by all ages in your vocation as long as you have purity. One would argue if this is done in an industry that requires rigor, what about the public offices that predominantly  require one sitting down to make decisions just making sure they have a well selected team behind them with the very best of intentions.

Jacob Zuma, the former South Africa president in an interview on the back of the most recent general elections of his country was asked why he had formed a political party at the age of 82 instead of retiring and leaving the stage for the youth. His answer was a resounding one, asking where the youth or young people who wants to be leaders are and why they are not easily identifiable by their actions. Where are those that the old guards should pass on the button to? This issue of lack of serious young generation contenders in public offices is a problem globally. Most young people have no interest for participating in policy making and politics in particular, leaving instead the older generation to soldier on perhaps until availability of other true mature leaders in again their old age.

The quotes this week are a continuation of extracts from a book that advocates re-looking at things around us and mearing them on with new minds. I am sure that the selected few quotations from this book will enlighten you to one or two life lessons, read and enjoy:

TOWARDS A NEW WORLD VIEW by Various Authors Edited by Russell E DiCarlo

\” …. This is again, a particular cultural problem we have. In the West, we tend to think of knowledge as something that we have in our heads. We actually don\’t make any rigorous distinction between knowledge and information. We treat knowledge as a little more important than information.\”

\”How would a person go about becoming more integrated in their life? —- Educate and obey their conscience. By that I mean, get deeply into the great wisdom literature of all religions and all societies that have had enduring value and study it. Study the lives of great individuals who have made tremendous contributions and who have been admired for their contributions, their service, their integrity. Identify with it until your conscience becomes extremely sensitive, strong and inside you. Then learn to listen to it and obey it.\”

\”I feel strongly that the quality movement is tuned-in to the importance of values. Values are the inner aspect too. It\’s not an easy thing to deal with. It\’s not easy to discover what your values are. Anyone can say, \’I believe in integrity, equality, respect, harmony and compassion,\’ but there\’s a difference between believing that and acting upon it. It\’s very interesting to discover what people\’s values really are by observing what they are willing to act on.\”

\”…… In that sense, there is a profound difference between the East and the West, we tend to think of learning as an intellectual process, something we learn from a book in a schoolroom. If you ask a person, What do you first think of when you think of the word \’learning\’?\’ they\’ll say, \’Schoolroom.\’ And what does schoolroom suggest? \’Sit down and be quiet,\’ they\’ll say, or \’Be passive and follow the rules.\’\”