Rotarian Dr. Wale Ogunbadejo, the District Governor of Rotary International, District 9110, Nigeria has reminded us that “the fate of our country is tied up in our understanding and fulfilment of the two words: duty and service.”
DG Ogunbadejo made this charge to attendees during the send-forth ceremony for Mrs. Abimbola Ogun-Jijoho, the outgoing General Manager of Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK), held in Lagos on October 10, 2017.
The Rotary District 9110 DG, who is also the Chairman of the send-forth party committee, said at the event that “for our country to change trajectory from its downward spiral, each of us must be the change we want to see in our environment.
“We must all therefore learn to render our responsibilities wherever we stand, with love, for that alone, is what will stand for us ultimately”, he said, while quoting the adage that says that “whatsoever a man sows, that he must reap.”
“Let us sow the good seeds so that we can reap the good fruits, if not here but in the beyond which is a certainty for all human beings”, the District Governor told audience at the event.
Defining duty as a moral or legal obligation and service, as an act of assistance, favour, helping hand, among others, DG Ogunbadejo noted that the fulfilment of duty has always been considered man’s greatest virtue, and among all people, it ranked higher than everything else. Even higher than life itself.
“The people of old will rather die defending their duty than succumbing to failure. It still exists in the Eastern world though the understanding has been corrupted, with people killing themselves for very flimsy reasons and sometimes, after doing what they shouldn’t have done in the first place”, the District Governor stated.
The DG explained that it was different in the earlier times because “they were convinced of the rightness of their responsibilities which they therefore imbibed easily, suffused it with love and became one with it. With the addition of love, it means they were ready to sacrifice their own comfort for that of others. It ceases from being just a fulfilment of duty. They were ready to sacrifice their lives for others to survive”.
According to the District Governor, “the performance of a duty therefore becomes service once the one concerned carries it out with love and the wish to only serve others. He derives joy in the joy he gives others in the performance of his responsibility. That is the time when his performance becomes a living activity that can then also attract huge spiritual gains to him”.
According to DG Ogunbadejo, “anything done without love is dead and a dead activity cannot bring everlasting dividend. It can only bring tangible, transient material gains and advantages which are ultimately of no consequence to a human being. We are not of flesh; we are human spirits and our gaze, our basis for all we do, must be higher.
“What does it profit a man when he gains the world but loses his soul? It is a reality, though it sounds ‘old school’ these days. These are the values, the concepts that must be revived especially among our youths for the sake of our future”, the District Governor concluded.