Imitation may be the highest form of flattery but... - Pat Utomi

Started by nReporter, Feb 06, 2013, 07:36 PM

nReporter

I was checking my Facebook wall today and stumbled across this special birthday message by Prof. Pat Utomi. What caught my attention most was the quote "Imitation may be the highest form of flattery but it is still the only form of being". What can you say about it? Please read the whole article below and share your comment! Happy Birthday to Prof. Pat Utomi.



As I mark my 57th birthday today, permit me to share this with you. GRATITUDE

-Pat Utomi

Imitation may be the highest form of flattery but it is still the only form of being.

All we do is imitation; first of parents, of teachers and of what we see around us. So on a day of much thanksgiving for the gift of life and the opportunities gifted by being I turn, in imitation, to the beloved prelate of the Metropolitan See of Onitsha the Most Rev. Dr. Valerian Okeke whose refrain is, Gratitude, and whose pastoral letter on Gratitude has inspired us much.

Today we turn to seven things in their order of priority in the 57 years of the privilege of the gift of life. The first is gratitude, the second is gratitude, the third is gratitude and so is the seventh and all those between the third priority and the seventh.

First, gratitude for the gift of life. There are many times I wonder how people who see the miracle of being, given, and the mystery of its being taken at will, and with little power on the part of the recipient to say no; still cannot step gently in awe of He who gives and takes. When the rich and powerful like Steve Jobs, much wanted around for great works, gives back this gift in the prime of being, and those who inflict misery on others in savouring power do not see the wisdom in stepping gently, I wonder? In my home community in Delta State, among the Anioma people, it is considered wisdom that when a person remembers death, the person steps gently. But many lack this wisdom. For enabling me, as Stephen R. Covey who last year gave up that gift of life, reminded frequently, that we begin with the end in mind, I am grateful. I recall today how close I have come to losing it many times in the turbulence of years of being; to the Abacha hit squad; to the accident near Asaba; to near air crashes; to the assassination attempts that planted a bullet in my neighbour's intestines, etc.

Is it 1991 when all vital signs departed and it was in and out of shock; or in being a few feet away from the one who blew himself up in the train at Edgeware Rd. in London on July 7th seven years ago; to a few averted air crashes. Only you up there can say when; so we continue, unafraid of those who can kill the body but have no power over the soul. Gratitude. How grateful we are.

The second is the grace to covet the simple life. From my youth you allowed the light in my heart and conscience to inspire the desire for life lived simply, not in a show rejection of the complex and the big man disposition but in a longing to be just me. It is not easy to sustain such in the kind of environment that the collapse of culture has plunged Nigeria; where the anthem is my SUV is bigger than yours, and my PJ is sleeker than yours. (PJ is not pajamas, it's actually Private Jet). But your love and the help of teachers, spiritual directors and formators of all hues, to whom I owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude, helped me understand detachment from things material, a wonderful icing on the cake of your generous gift of a sense of contentment. You left me a great treasure in Prov 30:7-9. I know that two things I ask always and you never deny me beside taking falsehood far from me, is not to give too much of the material that I may not, in pride of the triumph of having over being, say who is God, or in the depth of poverty profane His name by stealing. What gratitude for the privilege of that 1996 boast to Mike Wallace at CBS, that no human can come forward and say I have ever asked for a bribe or encouragement to do what I should, in my entire life. Yet you have given enough for a high quality of life I have experienced but not so much that I may desire to oppress others, especially the weak and vulnerable.

The third is gratitude. Gratitude for the gift of good health and energy to work without tiring. When that Professor in graduate school Ed. Keller charged me with being a "pathological workaholic and a compulsive over achiever", he was complaining not praising, but you have enabled me to find work/life balance and to enjoy family life. With good health and acknowledging the work of our hands as conversation , prayer , with He who worked in the carpenter's shed , surely we will not lack. For that we are thankful, especially as you inspire by words of one of our favorite scriptures that a good name and favour be preferred over riches (Prov. 22:1). In expression of gratitude for good health I ask of you to help us with wisdom to know our days are numbered and our time here short. Then give us the courage to know that the work of our hands, not the size of our wallet, can give us immortality here, and with your grace, there. As we can see of Steve Jobs and Stephen Biko whose times here were short but have immortality among men. Our work and heart can keep us long in the hearts of men.

The fourth is gratitude for the gift of a very dear spouse and children where your peace and joy has been cast broadly for 28 years. For the tolerance of my challenges, past the nuclear family, into the extended, where the stretch of being sometimes shrinks the capacity of doing even with all the love in the heart, I am grateful. For the warm moments we shared , the gift of Sunday morning as we gather at breakfast remain the highest sense of our existence .

The fifth is gratitude, even before the bonus years, the years after the July 12, 1991 accident; when we would have been called back, you had taught me to see you in others. I thank you that I know that you are love and that in seeing you in others I have the privilege of returning to you the song you gave to me . As Ori Okoroh sang with such passion many years ago, you are the song that I sing, when I see you in my neighbor. How much I enjoy the reaction of people when I teach and say to them that to lead is to love. In compassion we can work together towards your purpose, to become co creators with you to move creation forwards its perfection(Gen 2:15).

The sixth again is gratitude. Gratitude for the gift of being a teacher. In a society that looks down on teachers at all levels, as poor, and therefore impoverished so discouraged many gifted from so noble a calling thereby diminishing the biggest asset that can make society strong, I give thanks. I am proud you have called me to the vocation of being a teacher. Knowing that I have many weaknesses in seeking to do well this thing I love, to show the path that others may follow in the conviction that a candle loses nothing when it lights another, I am grateful that your strength is made perfect in my weakness. To you who dragged to the library at Nsukka, one unserious student, who came to the university to have a little fun and run off to live as an Aviator, and transformed the life, I am grateful for the encounter with the library and the love affair with the written word.

In the many different directions you have inspired my path as a teacher, I am perhaps the most grateful for recognizing, 20years ago, that the future of Nigeria depended much on the spirit of enterprise. How you helped me in rapid succession to attend those programmes at INSEAD, the Venturing and innovation programme at Kellogg and discovering, Ian Mcmillan at Wharton. All those led to designing and teaching at the Lagos Business School 19 years ago the first entrpreneurship class. It also resulted in what was called an evangelism of free enterprise system that seems to have affected many in ways I had never imagined possible. The effect of my push for entrepreneurship education 20 years ago was all the more fulfilling because my colleagues rightly opposed the idea, as it violated the tenets of focused strategy, the LBS being a General Management Initiative. The town – gown, social impact motivation of my disposition which made me keep pressing for an entrepreneurship segment has been justified by the impact of the EDC at the University which provides a legacy gift not thought plausible at the time.

My thanks to Professor Aloy Ejiogu at the University of Lagos whose research brought to my notice the fact that the LBS entrepreneurship initiative was unique and set the path to changing how business is taught in Nigeria and is inspiring a new sense for entrepreneurship as part of university curriculum.

For the privilege of being available to be of use as an instrument for something new of such significance I am in great debt of gratitude.

The seventh, is the gratitude for the inspiration to be active in the public arena, from civil society and social enterprise, even to partisan political engagement. Fifteen years ago, you inspired me to write a book of autobiographical reflections; to serve is to live. To truly live, I have struggled to serve. I know that to serve is to live and to live is to serve. For the adventures in partisan fray in which there is still limited understanding that leadership is other centered behavior and not about self, I am hopeful that whatever the report may seem, that the seed has been planted, that will soon extinguish the flames of narcissism. But for the young men who harassed me enough about taking the Centre of Values in Leadership up from one of many social enterprises I have started to help out a little, and now make me spend most of my time working at making CVL a global Centre of Excellence in research, advocacy and implementing leadership development to shape our world, one mind at a time, I give thanks to you for inspiring them, gratitude.

I tried to count my blessing and to name them one by one, I could not. To you who know the number of hair on my head not to talk of the many things I should be sorry for and those I must be thankful for: gratitude



Prof. Utomi is founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership which is 10 years old this year. Utomi is 57 today.