By Olamide Adenuga

This article peeped out of a question I was asked some months ago. After delivering a talk in a conference, an elderly man walked towards me. Looking me right in the eye, he asked: “Son, what’s your place in history?”

At that instant I didn’t know what exactly to say to him because I had never really thought about what my place was. But I simply told him I wanted to play my part well because I don’t want to be forgotten.

A lot of people are doing many things to succeed and survive. People want to build their dreams. Matter of fact, there are people surviving, succeeding and building their dreams. Time is progressing. Often times, our collective dream is moving forward imperfectly.

At other times, looking on our busy streets, I see us moving around chaotically. The test is whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events or whether we act to shape them.

We often talk about great men. We talk about men who found their place in history. We talk about men, who stood out and functioned effectively in their capacities; men, who by their actions and deeds, were able to put themselves in history. They embossed their names on the hearts of men.

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We talk about the intellectual giant Sir Isaac Newton whose achievements stand out like a light house in the dark. Nelson Mandela, a legend who will be remembered by generations yet to be born. We talk about Martin Luther King Jr. We talk about Obafemi Awolowo, William Shakespeare, Ludwig Van Beethoven.

In recent times, everyone talks about Barrack Obama, who redefined hope and brought it to real life by becoming the first African- American President of the United States. We’ve talked so much about them. I think it’s time we become like them. We need to have the spirit, the zeal and the commitment they had to what they believed in. We need to find out and operate in our strengths and uniquenesses with renewed sense of purpose and willpower, and we need to stick to it all the way.

A lot of people have come and gone, a whole lot more of us are still around and that means you still have the opportunity to do something worthwhile and leave your imprints on the sands of time. You have gas streaming in and out of your nostrils; you have your mind functioning appropriately.

What I’m saying is you still have the gift of life. What are you going to do with it? Somebody died last night gasping for breath but here you are. You up this morning and started you out on your way. You are alive not to count the moments that make up your life but to make your moments count. Every day when I wake up and I find out that I’m still breathing; I see it as an opportunity to go farther.

I don’t want to be forgotten.  A more important question I asked afterwards was what will I be remembered for? This is the question we all need to ask ourselves. For some folks, it might be scary. For some others, it might be the beginning of self- discovery and the pathway to personal freedom. But either way, today you have a chance to decide what your place will be in history. This question of our place in history must be answered not for us but by us.

• Lamide Adenuga, an author and conference speaker, writes via lamideadenuga@gmail.com.