What's Your Legacy Going To Be?

by Marie Chokote

That  morning, for me was a morning like any other. One of  the first things I always do is reach for my phone and check if I have received any emails worth reading before getting out of bed. That’s when I read about the tragic death of the well known journalist, Pius Njawe. Immediately, a flood of memories came rushing into my mind. I thought about the fact that even as a little girl, who did not know much about journalism, or newspapers (honestly, what young teenager really cares about news anyway?), I used to look forward to browsing through “Le Messager” a national newspaper founded by Pius Njawe. Frankly speaking only one section of the newspaper was really interesting to me, the funny cartoons: “Nyemb Popoli”. Not surprising at all right?

That simple thought put a smile on my sad face as I lay there reminiscing.

The name Pius Njawe brings more than just the distant memory of a famous newspaper though; To me it is closely related to a period of political turmoil, the introduction to my vocabulary of the word “democracy”. It is synonym of resilience, perseverance, having a purpose, believing in it and fighting for it without compromise, just as Pius Njawe fought for the rights of Cameroonians, with Le Messager as his voice. I could go and on, in fact I didn’t realize how much of an impact this giant of the press had had on my life until this day when I heard of his tragic death.

It is only then that i started realizing that people like him pioneered something very important for my generation in Cameroon, and I am certain that it went further than that. Rather than a distant story that we hear about from history books about individuals who fought for independence, or other great causes, he was a close example my generation could relate to. And I firmly believe that the fact that students, despite all sorts of intimidation, were able to stand up for their rights for a better education in different universities across the country in the 90’s, was as a result of the courage shown by freedom fighters like Pius Njawe. It is, after all,  the byproduct of that same generation, CAMDIAC (Cameroon Diaspora for Change), that invited him for a meeting in the United States early this month, a visit that we all know ended tragically when a car accident claimed his life. In a way he was still fighting for the things he believed in: positive change for his nation.
Instead of elaborating on his life (I am sure we can find numerous articles on the world wide web to cover that), as we remember, mourn and reflect on his work, it is also a good time to think about what kind of legacy we are going to leave behind once we depart from this earth. You don’t have to be a popular, well known person to impact the world. Pius was no president, nor was he a Bill Gates or Nelson Mandela, but he touched lives. He had a gift and he developed it, doing something that he loved, he was able to serve others, to serve a nation and set an indelible example. When he encountered trials, he did not wallow in sorrows, nor did he host pity parties - although he had enough reasons to (he was reportedly arrested 126 times, his wife lost their unborn child while at the mercy of prison guards when she came to visit him during one of his prison stays ....) - instead he found ways to keep writing, even when he was forbidden to do so. He had an assignment  he believed in and he fought for it.
A lot of us spend more time complaining about how bad things are, how incompetent the government is .... and spend virtually no time actually doing something about it. Without minimizing the veracity of some of these complains, we have to realize that most of the time the solution or at least the beginning of a solution lies within our hands. Each of us has the power within ourselves to leave a mark. Even if it is just on one person, who knows if that person will be in return the next Martin Luther King? You and I have a unique gift and what we can do no one else can.

Coincidentally, I am sitting at Barnes and Nobles as  I am writing this, and something caught my attention: “Buy one UNICEF card and help provide a schoolbag for a child”, “Buy one UNICEF card and help immunize a child” . I had to get up and look at the price tag $3.50 for most.

Let’s think about this: when was the last time we did something to bless somebody else? And when was the last time we complained about how bad the health care system is in our country is? I will let you do the math. For some this might mean sacrificing their morning cup of coffee, but at the end of the day is it not what it boils down to? To be willing to sacrifice for the good of another, to give when we are not asked, to use our talents, to give of our time or of our resources?

For Pius Njawe it was the use of words. In an interview he gave a month before his death, he said “A word can be more powerful than a weapon, and I believe that with a word we can build a better world and make happier people. So why give up while duty still calls? No one will silence me except the Lord before I achieve what I consider as a mission, in my native country, in Africa, and why not in the world”.

What is our mission? Is it not about time we find what our individual mission on earth is and focus ourselves to the best we can to accomplish it?

And while we are at it, as we are reading this quote from him can we commit to use our words in a constructive manner rather than using them as weapons of destruction? For as much as words have the power to build and make people happy, words can also accomplish the complete opposite in our lives and the lives of those around us.

Legacy: something handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor or from the past. You can only hand down what you have now, so let us think about this as we remember Pius Njawe: what do I have now that will be passed down to the next generation? How are my words used and how do they impact the people that hear them? What are people going to remember me for? What is my legacy going to be?

Remember it is never too late to start or restart. As long as he was breathing he never kept silent. Will you?

Marie Chokote

Also by Marie Chokote on face2face "This Time For Africa" - A Time to Shine

The Importance of Thank You - A Little Girl's Prayer

                                  RESILIENCE

Comments

[Nicoline Ambe]

What a powerful tribute to the great Hero, Pius Njawe! Thanks for the thoughtful note Marie.

[OnTheRoadToSuccess]

This article has got me thinking... More often than not, we fail to notice the role of ordinary people in society - while they're alive, only to realise the vacuum their death creates.

Pius Njawe is yet another "voice of voiceless" - silenced too soon. May he RIP.