Leaving a legacy
Within the span of one month the world lost two great people. The “tree woman” and the “i man”! Wangari Maathai and Steve Jobs, two great people who will be remembered for the difference they made, for standing out of the crowds in two different parts of the globe: Kenya and USA.
“Many become professors but few become heroic leaders. Many become politicians, but few have insight. Many toil, but few do it for the sake of others,” wrote Prof. Sylvia W. Kang’ara who teaches at the University of Washington School of Law, Seattle about Prof. Maathai who passed away on Sep. 26, 2011 due to cancer. Indeed she was heroic, she had the insight and she did it for others, for the future generations. She was a simple village girl who rose to become a professor of veterinary medicine and lived her life in a radical way. She created Freedom Corner at the Uhuru Park, Nairobi where she fought the police as she campaigned against the construction of a 60 storey building, the then ruling party Kanu building, that she said would destroy Uhuru Park and deny the city dwellers natural serenity. As per her wishes not to cut another tree to make a casket for her, her body was laid in a bamboo casket. She was out of the ordinary. She was called ‘a mad woman’ by the former president Arap Moi. All her efforts were recognized when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. While accepting the award she compared herself to a little humming bird trying to put out a huge forest fire as larger animals watched in bemusements. With her passing away Kenya lost a courageous daughter, Africa lost a heroic person and the world lost an environmentalist. Prof. Silvia said “Prof. Maathai motivated ordinary people to use simple strategies to fight big challenges; she influenced a generation of children to be problem-solvers.” She left us a legacy.
Another man, in another place, another cause the i-man Steve Jobs made a difference in the world of technology. He was considered one of the greatest brains of our times. At a relatively young age Steve Jobs, the founder and visionary who died of pancreatic cancer revolutionised communication technology through inventions such as the ipod, iphone and ipad. Job was a visionary, a go-getter who did things his own way ignoring the suggestions of his partners which caused him to be fired from the very company he founded. But he started all over again. Later he recalled, “getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.” He started Pixar which is today one of the most successful animation studios in the world. He also started the computer and Software Company, NeXT.
Reacting to the news of Mr. Jobs death Barak Obama US President had this to say, “He transformed our lives, redefined the entire industry and achieved one of the rarest feats in history: He changed the way each of us sees the world. Steve was among the greatest American inventors brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world and talented enough to do it.”
Steve Jobs was not just an inventor of new technologies. He has motivated millions of young people. A professed Buddhist who was a vegetarian, a son of an unwed mother he was given up for adoption as a child, and was a college dropout. Talking to the students at Stanford he said, “After six months (after going to college) I couldn’t see the point, I decided to dropout and trust that it would all work OK.” At the age of 20 he founded the Apple Computers Company in his parent’s garage. He told the students, “you got to find what you love, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect your future.” He continued, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to great work is to love what you do, if you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.”
Steve Jobs left us a legacy in the world of technology and motivating others.
In August the Salesian province of Eastern Africa (AFE) witnessed the swearing in of a new Provincial and his Vicar. Though a missionary Gianni Rolandi can be considered one of the “young generations.” He came to Africa as a missionary did his Practical Training here and studied theology and became a priest here unlike the previous provincials who came as priests. He is rooted in the culture and his Vicar Fr. Simon Asira Lipuku is a son of the soil. The confreres have great expectations. In a lengthy interview (published in this bulletin) Gianni said, “It is my hope that the sentence ‘there is no vision in this province’! will not be heard in the province.” That is the hope of every confrere too. With four new priests and a majority of young confreres Gianni should leave a legacy as the 4th provincial of AFE. What we need is, to be ‘brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe we can change the way we are present in AFE and use the talents we have to make that change.
Sebastian Koladiyil
