eBusiness Weekly
Arthur Marara
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” (Warren Buffett). These words take me back to my rural home in Guruve. I have had the benefit of being in my grandfather’s orchard, which is populated with mango trees. Out of curiosity, I asked one of my uncles the story behind these trees. I was told that my grandfather, Elias Nhemachena (who was nicknamed, “Marara” because he was a very smart person in terms of his dressing, and, this is where my surname came from), planted those trees as far back as the 1950s before he passed away in 1968, before my mother and I were even born. Being a chief then, he inspired and encouraged the planting of these trees in his area and today, mango trees are a common feature in my rural area.
Despite the fact that I could not see him physically, I am able to connect with his legacy.
He left a seed for my generation and generations to come. His own family, my father included, benefited from the sale of the same mangoes and was able to make a living despite the fact that my grandfather had gone. The savings from the sales was even used to purchase a motor vehicle which was used to transport the mango fruits for sale at the business centre in the 1970s.
Instead of me waiting five years or more to have a mango tree, I just had to wait for the normal season for mangoes in order for me to have access to the fruits. What was the secret? Generational thinking! Someone envisioned grandchildren and great grandchildren having access to fruits. With the same inspiration, he encouraged a whole community to plant trees. This week, I want to challenge you to be a generational thinker.
Sow seeds for the future
This is what I think as Zimbabweans need to seriously think in terms of, sowing seeds for the next generation. Corruption, incompetence, nepotism in organisations rob the next generation of a solid nation. Generational thinkers sow seeds for generations to come. Generational thinkers, think beyond today, they think about tomorrow and years after. I just told you about my grandfather, Marara; I don’t know your case. It might not just be fruits that you want to pass on to the next generation, it might be a better foundation to life, it might be a better start in the marriage life for your children, it might even be better education for them. In some instances, it might just be peace of mind that you want to give them.
Today counts
It is what we do and don’t do now that makes our future. Certain people’s lives would have been better had they made investments during their productive time, and other people’s lives are better because they endured the pain of discipline for some time, and abstained from doing certain things. The future is a product of actions and inactions today. Do not waste today, make wise choices today and you will be remembered for the right reasons.
What are you doing today? Is it contributing to a better generation from you? You do not want your grandchildren to look at you and lose any form of respect due to the level of confusion you lived your life with.
Think and look beyond yourself
Do not just think in terms of yourself, think about generations to come. Do not just live for today. Give value to the generations to come. Leave the world a better place than you found it. Make your family better than you found it. All that you are doing now, someone will have to pay for it. It might not be you, but someone will have to pay for it. There are certain people right now who are paying for debts which were incurred by their spouses who are deceased. Children have to face the indiscretions of their parents.
Great people think and live beyond themselves. Make life easy for people who will come after you. Make investments for your grandchildren; buy immovable properties for them if your funds permit. Do not just buy cars, invest in property that appreciate in value. For some weird reasons people define success in terms of cars they drive. Sit down with your financial advisor and see the other ways you can make worthwhile investments for generations to come.
Great people think of
generations to come
Have you ever thought about the way that you are living your life and the consequences upon generations to come? The reality is that many people do not actually think about all this. The thrust is just to live and do what the heat of the moment demands and dictates. If we are going to live and leave a meaningful life, we need to learn and start thinking generationally. Make life easy for the generations to come.
Many people are busy destroying relations and making it difficult for generations to come opportunities. Do not create problems by the way that you are living your life at the present moment. Someone will definitely need to use the same relations that you are busy destroying, someone will need to use that same land that you are busy deforesting, and someone will need to travel the same road that you are damaging through reckless driving. Dr. Mike Murdock once said that, “A person is remembered for two things; problems they have caused and problems they have solved.” Are you causing problems or are you solving them for the future generation? More often than not, if you are not solving problems, you are actually causing them.
Our children’s future is our responsibility
“All good men and women must take responsibility to create legacies that will take the next generation to a level we could only imagine”. (Jim Rohn). Generations to come must be better than you in every material respect because you laid the foundation for them. Certain people are often remembered in the negative, the disadvantages that they visited on the next generations.
An interesting story is captured by the writer of 2 Kings 4:1. “A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”(NKJV).
The interesting thing in this story is that a Pastor/Prophet’s children are about to be committed into slavery because of the debts of their father who had died. The irony is that the Pastor/Prophet in this case feared the Lord, but he did not fear debt! The very people, who should actually be leading by example in their families, are leaving problems for the same families.
Where is the problem? Generational thinking! Do not be distracted by the nature of your office, it will not compensate for what you are supposed to do as an individual.
Inspire the coming generations
If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then you are an excellent leader.; [Dolly Parton, Singer]. Leadership starts at home, and develops outside! Give your children, and generations to come a fresh and clean start. The greatest gift to the next generation is a better start. In our case in point, the Pastor gave his children a debt-start, before they could even start their own lives; they had to pay the debts of their father. They had to serve as slaves before they could be free and have a life of their own.
But where did this all start from, it started with a decision which was made by their father, and from the look of things, the wife was not aware of the debt, because the personal attachment of the children even came as a surprise to her and she had to cry for help. I want to challenge you to think twice about generations to come. Will life be easier after you or things will get worse? Be remembered for the right reasons. Think generations. Create your legacy by caring for others. “Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” [Shannon L. Alder]
Who is going to
clean up your mess?
We rarely think about this! We do not apply our minds to the mess that we are creating now by how we are leading our lives. You rent a property, and the best you can do is to run it down, and make life difficult for other tenants to come. We drop litter everywhere, and expect someone to clean it. We ruin our marriage lives, and expect things to be in order. Some men are even busy fathering children out of wedlock everywhere with little or no thought as to who is going to take care of them. Think of gold panning, and the ditches dug everywhere; who is going to clean up this mess?
Drive along the highways you will see people using some huge stones to support their cars while replacing their wheels, and once they are done, they do not remove them from the road they just drive off, and possibly endanger other road users. Who do you want to remove the stones for you?
Some people are busy destroying family relations, only to make life difficult for generations to come. Come to ask some families which have strained relations, they will tell you of a grudge or dispute which dates back 30 years ago. Who is going to clean up this mess for you? Certain people are building notoriety for being corrupt only to make their name a brand for wrong reasons and make life difficult for generations which will carry or be associated with it. Who is going to clean this up for you? Who is going to clean up our mess? This is the question that we have to ask ourselves with thoughtfulness.
Some food for thought
I want you to take some moments, and think through your life and your actions and answer this question, “Will life be easier for those people who will come after you?” If your answer is in the negative, you need to start working on your life, and become a generational thinker. Clean up your life, and do not punish the next generations through your indiscretions.
Join me on Star FM on Wednesdays (09:30am-10:00am) for some moments of inspiration on the Breeze with Tariro “Mai Judah”.
◆ Arthur Marara is a corporate law attorney, keynote and peak performance speaker, business strategy facilitator commanding the stage with his delightful humour, raw energy, and wealth of life experiences. He is a financial wellness expert and is passionate about addressing the issues of wellness, sales, business leadership and strategy. Arthur is the author of the “Personal Development Toolkit”, “Keys to Effective Time Management” among other inspirational books. Follow him on social media, or WhatsApp him on +263718867255 or email [email protected]
