BY UDEME ARCHIBONG

Abraham Lincoln worked as a general storekeeper, the venture eventually went bankrupt and he ended up owing $1,100. He promised to pay the debt. Though it took him fifteen years to clear his debt; the money being an enormous amount in those days.

During the time Lincoln practiced law, when his clients overpaid him, he sent refunds. People around nicknamed him “honest Abe”. When he ascended to become the President of the United States, he made a significant statement that should be engraved in every heart, “I desire so to conduct the affairs of this Administration that if at the end… I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.”

That friend down inside of him was a tender conscience. Abraham Lincoln left his thumbprint on the document of destiny because he aligned his values with timeless and self-evident principles which shaped his behaviour and lifestyle.

Your character has its offshoot from your core values in life. It’s the values you possess that shape your character. In your daily living and in every circumstance, you beckon on your value system to determine your response or choices to every event of your life. Therefore, your values rule your behaviour and determine the direction of your life.

We are living in a society full with moral decadence; a distorted value system. Is it a little wonder that enduring success, inner peace, true happiness and fulfilment is far-fetched in the lives of many despite the outward show of “success?” We’ve come to define what’s right and what’s wrong in terms of group consensus; we’ve come to rationalize it; “everybody is doing it” so it must be right.

We do not have sufficient moral stamina to stand out for what is right even when everybody is treading on the wrong path or when we know that we’ll never get caught. Most of the ills and evil experienced in the world today has its roots in man’s own soul. Most of the crisis and chaos experienced in our lives could be traced to the wrong value system which has guided our behaviour and action, conflicting with moral laws.

Hence, in our defining moments we make decisions that are easy, cheap, and popular; rather than choosing what’s right. Consequently, when moral law has taken its toll on us, we begin to blame people and circumstance and even fate for our misfortune. In the highway of life, winning is not the ultimate. The ultimate is winning in the right way. Invariably, the end never justifies the means but rather the means justifies the end.

The means is what empowers the end to produce enduring results. The means is a process, the end is an event; the process outlives the event and gives credibility to the event. The event may fade but the process sticks. It’s the means (process) that give value to the end (event).  Means and ends are wrapped up in each other; they are inseparable.

Unfortunately, people crave for the end (event) and despise the quality of the means (process). They want to grasp at the fruit (end) without giving attention to the roots (means). Little do they know that the root determine the quality of the fruits. If we accomplish a worthy end through an unworthy means, we trigger off an effect that will lead to destiny wreckage.

Hatred and selfishness are among the two of the World’s greatest evil that has held humans captive with it demoralizing power. Hence, we seek wealth without work; we indulge in pleasure without conscience; we pursue knowledge without character; we desire to thrive in business without morality; we’ve made a quantum leap in science without a heart for humanity; we pay God lip service in worship without paying Him Life service in sacrifice and obedience; we practice politics without principle. And in the long term we discover that what we had termed as success was just an illusion; a superficial glamour that leads to a frustrating experience.

You can transform your destiny by imbibing value-based principles into your basic character. Principles such as Integrity, humility, fidelity, simplicity, courage, patience, industry, temperance, modesty and the Golden Rule will elevate your life from mediocrity to greatness. Resolve to live by a higher standard irrespective of your feelings and external pressures.

Remember, consistency is the key. “One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in my bank account nor what my clothes look like. But the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of someone,” Anonymous.

When you earnestly pursue what is right, your destiny will be announced.