Why Is Contribution Important In Society?

The era of modernity we find ourselves resulted as a cumulative of contributions from individuals who had lived. Each of these individuals gave a quota of their endeavours which stemmed from their unique abilities to identify, define, and put into practice their God-given innate talents. 

Without these contributions, the world will never grow and would have been in a standstill position. Most of them had courage despite all odds to achieve their goal. They had this sense of contribution which created a pace for their success.

Many people today just want to remain where they are. They are just satisfied with acquired knowledge, skills, education without thinking of ways to add value or to expand knowledge of the pre-existing ideas and ways of life. 

The two brothers who invented the airplane took it upon themselves and saw the need for humans to be transported in a quicker and faster way breaking the barrier of landscape, seas, mountains, etc. 

Though their model of aircraft may not still be in existence, their invention was quite remarkable because none had ever achieved such success. Society would have been brought to a halt if, after such inventions, no work was done. They contributed their quota by bringing the initiative of inventing a craft that can fly in the sky while others built on the foundation they had laid making transportation a lot easier and faster.

As humans, we must have that sense of contribution and once we recognise that we are obligated to contribute as others have contributed, we force our minds to go wild searching for that unique potential that may be detected earlier or later on in life. 

Any human who does not want to contribute to humanity is a greedy fellow. He is termed as a child that inherited his father’s property and feels fulfilled with them. He does not seem to make any effort to create his wealth so that others too will feel His impact. No legacy to leave behind.  But a wise fellow will use what has been created to make more wealth. By doing this, he has been able to contribute and create wealth that will be passed on to his generation. 

The body called science is full of contributions that have been for thousands of years. I want you to imagine how it would have looked like if these contributors never did anything. They recognised a problem, saw the need of the people and visualised how these problems/needs could be taken care of.

Today we celebrate them because of the contributions they made. Great entrepreneurs today have this awesome potential of contributing to society. They solve problems and convert solutions to wealth.

When people complain about racism I just shake my head and say ‘‘you have not offered anything’’. If you have something uniquely different to offer, you will be honoured for who you are. The masses are not going to look at your skin colour, deformity, or physical appearance. They will be looking at you from your point of contribution. Sometimes even your flaws are counted as perfect. Unique contribution breaks the chains of racism, it set you at liberty to talk to any man regardless of his status, colour, or race. 

People have been neglected, stigmatised and persecuted all because of their race but, when they made remarkable contributions to humanity, their stories changed from public disgrace to fame. People now want to hear from them, they want to tap knowledge and wisdom from their success. The world has forgotten about their race, and now they are being celebrated because they made outstanding contributions. These famous men or women had many times been challenged and they lived up to the challenge.  Those challenges helped to strengthen their feeble knees. They were not ready to retreat or give up.

We are living in an era where nearly everything is on the bed of roses. Many activities that took a long time, can now be done in a split second. Under normal circumstances, this is supposed to speed up our creative abilities and facilitate our progress but the reverse is the case. People have become so relaxed, lazy, and without purpose, waiting to be spoon-fed by the latest inventions or discoveries. Have you ever sat to ask yourself “Why can I not invent or discover something that will be of help to society?” The clothes we wear, the food we eat, the electricity we enjoy and do all electronic operation, the improved health care system, the economy, the cutting edge technology, a few but to mention were all done by persons or group of persons who saw the need for better living.

As humans begin to evolve, the population increased with a multiplicity of wants.  For these humans to adapt to these conditions before them, they had to develop ways to improve their living standards. Old paths were no longer suitable for their generation so they had to work hard to see that they survived and not just surviving that they make living more convenient. They were led by their instinct, they saw possibilities of coming out with something that will be useful and beneficial to mankind.

 They might have had mates who had greater opportunities than them but could not utilized them. They were driven by their passion and powered by their curiosity to ensure that they lived a happier and successful life. There are many factors to be considered when looking at how these individuals achieved success. These include curiosity, passion, mindset, determination, focus, and persistency.

Curiosity
Curiosity can easily be seen in children who are growing up. Most times they feel bewildered by the trends of events. An observant parent will quickly know where their instinct is pointing them to. Marriam’s Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus define curiosity as the “desire to know”. As humans, our minds are always desiring to know. We become restless if we don't get the answers. A curious person will always put a question mark on the aspect that bewilders his/her mind. Curiosity is a great fuel for invention. I want to point out clearly that all humans have curiosity and this depends on the degree or the level of awareness which can either is in the latent stage, or weakened by inconsistency, or not notice yet, we all have them.

The mistake we make is, everybody wants to be curious in the same field which most times does not come out well. The ability to be curious is natural.  It comes by the direction of our instinct. Most times curiosity drives you to an area that looks odd, absurd, weird, and ridiculous. Just mentioning it to someone will look nearly impossible but our minds keep telling us how possible it is.

A child may ask the dad “why does the sun not come out at night?”. Now this question may seem silly to some but in the child’s mind, he has pondered over the subject and cannot find any possible solution within his reach to answer the question, he then goes to his dad to ask (desiring to know the reason). If the dad correctly answers the question, he may throw another dazzling question “how did the scientist know the actual measurement of time in different locations?”. While the dad is still figuring out how to answer that question he will ask another question again and again in the same line of direction. That is how you know where his curiosity lies. Knowing a child’s curiosity is not a one-day job. You have to have the ability to recognise among all his activities which excite him the most. Albert Einstein also said, “the important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity had its own reason for existing”. For you to make an Impact, you must have a curious question that will keep your mind busy until the solution is gotten.

Passion

According to Merriam’s Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus, passion can be defined as “a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept”.  Wikipedia defines Passion as” a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion, a compelling enthusiasm or desire for something”. Without passion, your curiosity will be in vain. That is the reason why most people’s curiosity is still latent. You can never be successful in anything without having a liking for that thing. People are curious mostly about the thing that catches their fancy. Even in the educational setting, students tend to fail subjects they hate or have no interest in not because of their inability to understand, but because of the hatred, they have developed for the subject. Once you are interested in any field or subject matter, you will always make out time to study that subject of interest. Time will never be an object of a hindrance because you will always make out the time to focus on your passion.

We all have passions as humans whether rich or poor. That is one of the assurances I want you reading this to get. Most of what these great contributors had, we also have them but only in different fields and different orientations and that is what makes you uniquely different. And this is where most parents flunk it, they want to impose their passion on their children. They may come out successful but they will be less fulfilled because the picture of what they wanted to become is still crystal clear in their mind and each time they think about it, it brings pain to them.

Passion will help you in harsh conditions, it will help to weather you through the storm. It is easier to give up on what you have no liking for than for what you have a strong liking for. This is the tool inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs used to pave their way to success against all odds. If you are passionate about anything, you can go beyond the limit of what is expected and that is what makes a difference. A man who is passionate about his job can easily stay back on extra hours to sort out things than an average man without passion for the job would. When passion and curiosity marry, it reproduces consistency.

Determination

Determination is a strong emotional feeling of firmness of purpose. For one to be determined, he has to hold on no matter the adversity, no matter the pain, no matter the discouragement. Many famous people had challenges that would have given them enough reason to retreat but determination pulsates in their veins. A man that is determined never leaves a project uncompleted because of one reason or the other. Determination motivates one to accomplish any particular task, goal, or ambition. “If there’s something that you want and you’ve hungered for it, you’ve got to do whatever is necessary until and when you give the best you can and that’s not enough you must do what is required. And don’t give up on yourself”. Les Brown.  A lot of people tend to be persistent but to the wrong thing. Just like I said earlier, persistency must be backed up by approaching it the right way so that it does not look like repeating the process without considering what is required.

Whenever you become too serious and too focus until it becomes life and death, the way is going to open up. You must be able to hold on to the vision. Many people just take it as “well if it works, but if it doesn’t…” no sir, it isn’t going to work that way. Have that mindset, “it’s going to work” even in your downtimes, still, muster the courage to hold on. Amid odds, meditate on your vision, as you go about your business, visualize the possibility. Have the mindset of a soldier who has signed his death warrant. No retreat, no surrender. Let your goal be like your hunger for food.

Necessity is the mother of invention 

This old proverb clearly explains that many inventions come into existence as a result of need. While some scholars criticise this old proverb and place it on the reverse, the proverb still stands out to be true. It may not be correct in some cases but in most cases, it’s true. Oxford Dictionary defines this proverb as  “when the need for something becomes imperative, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it. Many discoveries and inventions were made during World War II out of the necessity and breakthroughs of the war.

A Short History of Braille
"This system of writing and reading used by many blind people was invented almost 200 years ago. While several types of written communication systems were tried during a ten-year period beginning in 1825, the one invented by a blind teenager was adopted. Some modifications have been made to it over the years but the Braille code in use today is virtually the same as it was in 1834.

Louis Braille was born January 4, 1809, in a small village near Paris. His father, a leather worker, often used sharp tools in his work. While playing in his father’s shop when he was three, Louis injured his eye on an awl. In spite of good care, infection set in and soon left him completely blind.

When Louis grew to school age, he was allowed to sit in the classroom to learn by listening. Louis was very bright and creative, and when he was ten, he was sent to the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris. There too, most instruction was oral, but there were a few books in a kind of raised print developed by the school’s founder. Although frustrated by the large, bulky books and slow reading of the tactile characters, he did well at his studies and dreamed of a better way. At that time, the raised letters were made by pressing shaped copper wire onto paper but there was no way for blind people to write for themselves.

While a student, he began to use his creativity to invent an easy and quick way for blind people to read and write. Louis heard of a system of raised dots developed by a French army captain, Charles Barbier de la Serre. Barbier originally created a code of raised dots and dashes as a way to allow soldiers to write and read messages at night without using a light that might give away their positions. He later adapted the system and presented it to the Institution for Blind Youth, hoping that it would be officially adopted there. It was based on phonetics and consisted of groups of twelve dots arranged in two columns of six dots each.

Louis worked with Barbier’s basic ideas to develop his own simplified system that we know today as braille. He based the code on the normal alphabet and reduced the number of dots by half with the help of a site specializing in promo codes.
Louis Braille published the first Braille book in 1829. In 1837, he added symbols for math and music. Although Louis Braille went on to become a beloved and respected teacher, was encouraged in his research, and continued to believe in the value of his work, his system of reading and writing with raised dots was nevertheless not very widely accepted in his own time. Louis Braille died of tuberculosis on January 6, 1852.

Today, in virtually every language around the world, the code named after Louis Braille is the standard form of writing and reading used by blind people". adapted http://brailleplus.net/articles-and-publications/a-short-history-of-braille/

There are thousands of stories to illustrate the statement: necessity is the mother of invention. I want you to look at it this way, Self-discovery is a necessity for contributing to humanity. Don't wait for necessity, it may not be your path. We all have something to give to the world, I mean we all have something uniquely different that no one else can give except us ourselves. You are special in your way and orientation. If everybody can make their unique contribution to humanity, no matter how little, this planet will be a better place to inhabit.