The highlight of my week was possibly a video (click here) of Ben Murray-Bruce which I first came across on Facebook. For those of you who are not familiar with him, Murray-Bruce is a Nigerian businessman, Chairman of the Silverbird group and as I have just recently learnt – a Senator-elect.
The speech was made at the Silverbird Man of the Year event in the year, 2014 and Bruce was speaking on the state of the economy and on how some who lead Nigeria are driven by their own gain and ignore the sufferings of many. It was a very audacious speech and it was brave of Murray-Bruce to speak his truths on corruption and the dubious ways of life of some Nigerian politicians – in front of politicians. It was a mixed crowd though, not only politicians were in attendance. Statements from that speech kept resounding in my mind for days and yes, I watched the video over and over again.
The key words that I got out of that speech were – conscience and compassion. Ben Murray-Bruce’s speech reminded me that many ills that are occurring in this world are the results of silencing the feelings of conscience and compassion. The speech reiterated the fact that when you act on conscience and compassion, you can make positive change. Our humanity begs that we feel, whether it be love or hurt. It begs that we have a conscience, that we do not deprive ourselves of human nature by suppressing one feeling for the other.
It is not enough to be so positive about life that you fail to acknowledge your pain or even other’s pain, to turn off the news once it’s no longer making you laugh. It’s okay to turn off the news if the bad news is too much for a day but it’s not okay to not dare to care and empathize with others. On the other hand, life should not be lived as though it were a nightmare. Don’t deliberate on sorrow, hurt or a constant expectation of the worst. If we surround ourselves with hurt, how then can we love, how then can we make a change? Faith moves mountains.
It is compassion and a conscience that move people to donate to victims of a natural disaster, to speak up for victims of racial injustice, to lend aid to the poor, to give food and offer love to the homeless. It is in an attempt to silence the throbbing of compassion and conscience that people deny others of happiness, peace, fairness, wealth and justice
I choose to feel. I choose compassion and I choose to listen to my conscience.
Love & peace,
Chiamaka
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