Unpack to Serve, Unwrap to Be: the Duty of Humans

By Siphamandla Zondi

It is the greatest duty of humans to unpack themselves before earth, for earth to know how to be enriched by each one of us. 

It is our responsibility to show our true sleves, the hidden potential, the concealed dynamite, the not-yet-known phenomenon we are. For it is us who should best who are before others discover this. So, we better know the mysteries we carry in order to be able to mould and prepare them for presentation to the world. 

The Nelson Mandela phenomenon we came to know was a marvel to us, but not to the person, Mandela. So it was with Stephen Jobs, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jnr, Mother Teressa or Richard Branson. They got to know their hidden selves, their purpose within them first, moulded it and served it to the world as a phenomenon. You and I also are phenomena yet to be revealed to the world.

This is why Dr Myles Munroe had to say boldly and simply:  do not die loaded, unload that which you have; die empty.  He was saying do not get taken out of earth still a phenomenon preserved within a  packaged, but be unpacked and served to us all. H shocked many when he urged people to "die empty". 

Humans fail partly because they fail to accept the inevitability of death as the inspiration for them to live fully and optimally. Humans shun the impending death as if it was itself a tragedy rather an exist from duty, life lived, and opportunities had. 

Humans know that they have to die at some point because the garden we live that is earth can only contain as many people and some have to make way  use or apply that which they came to earth with and for. The earth can accommodate a number of people and the rate at which the population is growing, the space on earth is shrinking fast. 

Humans therefore often miss the point that earth if like a station on a long life to destiny, a point in a long production line. Those in it must make use of that opportunity to improve that point those they give birth find it ripe for them too to add that extra to what they find it. Otherwise, many of us are simply wasting the opportunity. 

I get really annoyed when I see a young person squander a schooling opportunity, forgetting that they only have 10-12 years window of opportunity to do schooling, preparing them to do something else.  You also find some wasting their university years, the only 3-7 years they have to do this properly. They do not always understand that if this portion of life is not done properly, the next phases become a lot more difficult. 

Similarly, life on earth is like the schooling years that must be used fully for someone to pass joyously. Many are condoned out of life because they under-used it, people have to make up stories to say how well they lived before their death. Just like a kid who has to be condoned from grade to grade because they have not moved up grades normally, they are objects of pity rather than celebration of impact. 

The challenge in earthly life is to bring the potential book within, potential technology, potential company, potential riches, potential talents, potential professions, potential solution, potential studio, potential vegetable garden, wife, husband, singer, dancer, entrepreneur  .... out! 

The tragedy is that there is a singer who trying to bring out an engineering marvel and think they're failing. An engineer is roaming the streets as vendor unable to become. 

It is a pity that some people have missed many chances to acquire the means to unpack their potential and serve it to society. Many who are destined for greatness are to discover and serve their purpose; they are still in a wilderness of decisions made or not made. 

Many future artists are street kids that decided to run away from homes where they were to be groomed to be great. Of course, some were pushed by decisions of their parents including the decisions to abuse and neglect, to shun and to reject them. 

Still many took decisions of their own because they were bored or were enticed by the promise of the outside home. Some tried their luck and left homes. Some considered preparation to be delay and training to be a waste of their time. They wanted to work and earn money now; they wanted independence while they were yet able to walk through life on their own.

Some are deciding right now either to do drastic things like taking a life much lower than their purpose requires or to take their lives well ahead of their purposed accomplishments. 

Whatever the way of digression is chosen, it is a tragedy. It is a let down. It robs society of the buildings, innovations, helping hands, teachers, inventions, ideas, words etc that were going to be. 

What we need to remind each other and ourselves of is who we were made to be, what sort of humans we were meant to be. We need not motivation, but inspiration; we need empty words that only makes believe for a moment, but the pouring out of the spirit of courage and encouragement. We need actions and words that cause us to seek and find purpose in life, in everything and everywhere. 

Secondly, we need to make others and ourselves conscious of the clusters of opportunities and chances out there in the world. We need to teach ourselves to see opportunities that are everywhere around us. The Bible says time and opportunity happens to us all. This is true. There are opportunities in people we meet, things we are asked to do, conflicts we encounter, enemies we meet... Everything is pregnant with an opportunity for one to achieve one's purpose. 

The sad thing is that many have really great opportunities, but have not trained themselves to see them in whatever wrapping they come in. So, many squander really obvious chances to become great assets to society here and now.

Thirdly, we will need to help each other with ideas about what practical things we can do to take many opportunities that come away. They need to know how to prepare themselves for implementing ideas they have. They need to know how to practically plan for an idea they have found. They need to know what doors can they knock on and who they can speak to. 

Fourthly, we need to remind them that courage is not absence of fear or failure, but it is a decision to keep trying in spite of failure. It is the willingness to keep proceeding in the direction of your goal and purpose in spite of adversity or distraction. It is will to fail until you succeed.

Find a mentor to walk you through this. Find someone to account to for decisions you make, so you will not turn away from them.

You who can... Bring it out! Empty yourself. Help someone empty themselves!