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16 May 2013
By Abdul-Warees Solanke
ABDUL-WAREES SOLANKE B.Sc. Mass Comm (Lagos); Master
of Public Policy (Brunei Darussalaam) Head, Voice of
Nigeria Training Centre, c/o VON Transmitting Station,
Ikorodu, Lagos. Formerly the special assistant to the
Director General, VON, he is the 2007/2008
Commonwealth Broadcasting Association scholar in
Public Policy at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam,
korewarith@yahoo.com 08090585723
The Olympic fever receded pitch in the land of the
ageless queen. London, recently in the frenzy of the
once in four year universal sporting fiesta, is still
counting her gains. The world attention was on in the
major sporting arenas of the British capital with
thousands of able-bodied men and women stretching
muscles, streaming sweats, burning tracks, shaving off
time in races, shattering records in wrestling, rowing
and throwing, kicking and boxing, fighting for fame,
gunning for gold and chasing honours.
The Olympic family is perhaps the only family that
rivals the United Nations in membership, on the
surface of the earth. So, making the Olympic list is
being on the world stage; winning an Olympic medal is
a life time achievement. Being decorated with an
Olympic gold enlists one in the halls of fame, both of
the games or sport one attains victory and of one
devoted to a country's greats.
I can only place the Olympic gold in the same class of
achievement with the Nobel and the Grammy. Each is the
highest aspiration in Sports, knowledge and music
respectively. Only the gifted and the talented, the
gurus and wizards, the ingenious and the geniuses get
to be decorated with these prized medals for their
inimitable attainment and unparallel skills. The
medals represent self-actualization. With an Olympic
gold, the American Grammy and the Nobel Prize comes
all the glitters and attention one can imagine,
unsolicited friendships and companies for their
winners, but at the same time unintended exposure.
They become a joyful pain in the neck, and they may
intoxicate. Here lies the challenge: how does a
medallist manage success and fame that they do not
constitute regret in his or her life?
I had intended the title of this piece to be the Goal
of Gold. Being too exclusive a metaphor, I found the
Grammy and the Nobel possessing similar allure in our
pursuit of distinction, fame or eminence in life. In
one way or the other, every height we aspire to reach,
every goal we aim at, and all that we want to be
celebrated for in life becomes the gold in our sight,
priceless! So, what price must we pay for the gold
that is dear to us? What sacrifices must we make to
reach our goal in life? What is the end of our goal?
How relatively valuable is that gold? What is the goal
of the gold?
In the philosophical realm, these sound as ethical
questions. And answers to ethical questions can be
very subjective and situational, varying by time and
circumstances, by personality and emotions, by
motivations and the needs. Therefore, the goal of the
gold may be very altruistic and impersonal. It can
also be borne by the frustrations, denials and
neglects we suffer just as it can be to masturbate our
egos. Whatever fires our quest for the gold, there is
another troubling question on how we go about it. What
taste does it leave on our palates? What traces does
it leave in our bloodstreams? What pollutants, virus,
infections and diseases, or the hangovers does it
leave in us? Ultimately, what frame, picture or colour
does it paint us?
There are stories of Olympic gold medallists, melting
the gold in the medal to make money and mourning
despite their fame. There are stories of high
achievers smashing their trophies at the height of
desperation and depression. There are stories of world
champions in boxing and wrestling ending behind the
walls. There are tales of soccer stars living as
wretched of the earth, in poverty after making
millions; of tennis champions running into debts; of
cricket baseball whiz kids who had spent nights in the
best of clubs in Europe and America, sailed in
expensive yachts, drove exotic cars and
chauffeur-driven in limousines, flew in private jets
to some Caribbean Islands in the embrace of rubies as
damsels, smoking the fattest cigars, downing the
choicest wines but ending all in penury. Is this the
goal of their gold, dying in infamy? Should this be
the end of the gold?
There are also tales and instances of Grammy winners,
masters of music but are failures in mastering their
own emotions and relationships. Invariably, they are
mastered by their servants and drivers, mastered by
the food they love, the crack they smoke, the cocktail
of drugs they live on and the fear they nurture, the
fear of losing acceptance and fame. In this
circumstance, they court tragedy as they drove
themselves crazy in order to remain on top. Riding to
the top, however, is not as challenging as remaining
on the top. The reality of being on the top is that
there is always someone else gunning for our spot on
the top. The top is not for one person alone. The
lesson here is don't ever think you will remain on top
for ever, otherwise you drive yourself to extinction
too soon. The second lesson is: always create room for
others when you reach the top so that you will have
jolly good company on the top.
The most important lesson however is: while gunning
for gold or the grammy, never take the short cut.
Never give others hard sliding tackles, the crippling
kicks or the benumbing knuckles to overpower or
overtake. It is not only your victims that suffer the
pains. His will be physical all right. But you will
ever live with the shame and trauma of cheating to get
your gold. You may fake that all is well for some
time, but you may never be forgiven by the man whose
glory you stole and by God who confers the ultimate
glory and honor, who crowns genuine, sincere efforts
in gold both in this world and in the life to come.
The final take here is not all that glitters is gold.
These are not my words, but evergreen saying that has
guided the path of many men of wisdom to the ultimate
honor and glory in their lives. The Grand Architect of
the Universe is the one who designed the courses on
which we run the race of life; He is the all-seeing
umpire and the most accurate time keeper. So, in the
race for fame and honour, you can never cheat before
Him or hijack the gold from Him. If you deserve it,
you will get it. If you steal, you will forever regret
it.
Ends.