Motivation Nation

𝗨𝗕𝗨𝗡𝗧𝗨 : I Am Because We Are.

“𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘌𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴, 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.” – 𝗔𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮 𝗠𝗼𝗼𝗿𝗷𝗮𝗻𝗶

Last month, I was invited to speak to some secondary school kids. I was somewhat bored on the way to school. I made the decision to take up a book and read in order to pass the time. I came across this heartwarming tale from South Africa in one of the chapters.

“𝘈𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯. 𝘏𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 100 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 ‘𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺’ 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘨𝘰!...

Do You Know What These Children Did?
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦, 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥…..”𝘜𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘶.” 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 – “𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘥?” 𝘜𝘉𝘜𝘕𝘛𝘜 𝘪𝘯 𝘟𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴: “𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦.”

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗨𝗯𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘂?
𝗨𝗯𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘂 is a Nguni Bantu language word meaning "𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺". It is sometimes translated as "𝘐 𝘈𝘮 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘞𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘦” or "𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴."

We all have a lot to learn from this beautiful southern African philosophy. ‘𝗨𝗯𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘂’ is essentially about togetherness, unity, and how all of our actions have an impact on others and our society.

“𝘜𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘶 𝘕𝘨𝘶𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘶 𝘕𝘨𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘶”or “𝘐 𝘈𝘮, 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘈𝘳𝘦”
is the belief in the universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity. It emphasizes that we are all connected and that we can only grow and make progress through the growth and progress of others. It’s all about love, inner goodness, truth, peace, happiness and optimism. 𝗨𝗯𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘂 is the essence of a human being, the divine spark of goodness inherent within each and every one of us.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗗𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗼 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗨𝗯𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘂 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗜𝘁 𝗔 𝗗𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝘁 𝗜𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲?

“𝘞𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵; 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺." ~ 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗯𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝘂𝘁𝘂

The global world would be a better and happier place if many of us could actually live and breathe Ubuntu and put it into practice on a daily basis. There is a oneness to humanity. We are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eyes. Let’s live "𝙐𝘽𝙐𝙉𝙏𝙐" in our daily life. As we start a new week today, let’s spread happiness everywhere we go. Do your little bit of good wherever you are. It’s those little bits of good put together that change the world. 𝗜 𝗔𝗠 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗨𝗦𝗘 𝗪𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗘.

“Your Mess Can Inspire The World If You Have The Courage To Flip It And The Determination To Grind It Out.’ ~ Akin Adelakun