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I know many of us do not know this man, Sean Stephenson, and many may have not even heard about him. But he represented a beacon of hope and inspiration to all of us, and reminded us that, no matter the situation of your life struggles and troubles, or you think your life condition is the worse and unbearable; you really do not have any excuse to allow the blows of life get you down or make you give up. And that the only limitation you have as an individual in excelling in life, is yourself.
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These were my thoughts when I saw a viral video of the life of Sean Stephenson, which was made and dedicated to him by a popular motivational speaker and life coach. In his words: “Last month, I lost a friend. He was this incredible man, but he was born with a genetic condition that prevented him from living a normal life. It was called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or brittle bone disease.” And according to Sean Stephenson himself, who was featured in the popular TED Talk, he said: “When I was born, the Doctors told my parents that I would be dead within the first 24 hours of my life. But thirty-five years later, all those Doctors are dead…”
One of the question Sean asked, which people have also asked him when he was still alive, was: “Why were you born?” And that is the same question we all need to ask ourselves. As written by Shakespeare: Some people were born great. Some achieve greatness. While others have greatness thrust upon them. Sean Stephenson represented a man who, despite being born disabled, and lived all of his life on a wheelchair, he refused to allow his condition and pain to make him live a life of misery. And this is because he clearly understood why he was born. If it were to be in Nigeria, he would have lived as a roadside beggar, which is why I believe that the Nigerian Government at all levels, ought to take all disabled/handicapped persons out of the streets, and properly take care of them like they do overseas. Rather than allowing them to beg on the streets of Nigerian cities, towns and villages. And those who capitalize on their handicapped status to use them to beg, should be punished severely by the law.
For Sean, he rose to become a highly talented man, a motivational speaker, a genius and philosopher of the 21st century. Unlike many of us in this part of the world, especially our Nigerian political leaders, who apparently have forgotten why they were born. Or why they are in Government. Perhaps, they need to be reminded that they were not born to inflict hardships on the people they are supposed to lead. They should stop thinking of only power and money. Rather, they should think for a while what life is all about. In fact, the Nigerian political leaders need to Google Sean Stephenson, to learn some life lessons.
Sean was indeed a special person. Throughout his entire life, Sean Stephenson was unapologetically himself. In his words: “I can tell you; I am only an expert on one thing, and that is how to be me. And I do it well.” As noted in the said video dedicated to him: “Sean did not get the same advantages in life that all of us did, but he never, ever allowed the cards he was dealt with by life to slow him down. Sean passed away in August 2019, at the age of 40. Now, all of his friends discovered something magical about Sean after he passed away. All across the web, hundreds of people started sharing beautiful notes of appreciation and gratitude that Sean wrote to them, over the last couple of months before his death… That was the Sean Stephenson we all knew.”
One time he said: “If somebody pities me, they are wasting their time because I have chosen a life of strength. You are not your condition. You’re not! I am not disabled. Sure, I’ll take the handicapped parking privileges, but that does not define me as a man. I’ll tell you why I was born, and I hope it inspires you to find out why you were born. I was born to rid this world of insecurity because when a human being is insecured, they do stupid stuff… You’re enough. I tell you. I made a pledge at the therapist to love all human beings, no matter what they’ve done because deep down inside, I’ve found that every human being just wants to be loved.” And the motivational speaker ended by saying that: “This is a man who never allowed his pain to prevent him from giving love to other people. This is a dedication to the strongest man I’ve ever met.”
So, while you go through the things you go through in life, always remember that there are people out there whose conditions are far worse than yours. But yet they have refused to allow their unfavourable life conditions to stop them from being successful, and making something positive out of their lives. So, be inspired today to live life to the fullest, learn to love others regardless of what life throws at you. Find out what you were born to do in this life, and strive daily to live the life of purpose.
This message is also to our political leaders in Government. They should realize that their being in Government, should be seen as a rear privilege, which they are required to use to selflessly SERVE THE PEOPLE without any iota of bias or favouratism. And by so doing, they would have fulfilled their life purpose and why they were born, and leave great legacies behind for future generations to always remember them for the good they have done in Public Service.
Let this be a lesson for all, that we all have a role to play in making our society better for humanity sake.
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes!