Inspire a Generation; The London Olympics

Haile Gebrselassie, the Ethiopian Bullet; the world marathon record holder

The title of this post is the motto for this year's Summer Olympic Games scheduled to begin on 27th July 2012 in London. There are 99 days to go as of today. The Olympic Games have been happening every two years since 1896 in Athens Greece. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating, although they occur every four years within their respective seasonal games.Africa will be well represented with at least 46 of  the total 216 countries, who will participate, being African countries. The two African countries with the highest chance of winning many gold medals ware Ethiopia and Kenya what with their extraordinary long distance runners who seem to operate like bullets :-). Uganda's own Edward Ekiring is the world's number one badminton player so we can hope for a medal from his performance. I wish them all the best.

in·spi·ra·tion/ˌinspəˈrāSHən/

Noun:

The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative: "flashes of inspiration". The quality of having been so stimulated, esp. when evident in something: "a moment of inspiration in an otherwise dull display".

What prompted this post is the matter of inspiration. The world at large has for at least the last five years been in need of inspiration; what with numerous terrorist acts, tough economic times, citizen uprisings that have not resulted in the desired change, re-occurring HIV/AIDS prevalence in former 'model' countries, renewed racist concerns with incidents like the killing of Trayvon Martin & the Makode Linde 'nigger cake' and so on...

 

Ronald Reagan, 40th president of America once said, "Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation..." Measured from a person's birth to his/her first child, a generation is considered to be anywhere from 14 to 24 years. This is my 28th year of life. I believe I can safely say I am part of the generation that should be inspired to make the changes in the world (starting with each one's immediate sphere of influence) that we believe ought to be made.

The famous Arab Spring of the past year was a step in the right direction in as far as an inspired generation rising up to demand/ cause change is concerned. The next step, then, is to explore how the changes that were effected (deposing dictators) can be sustained.



Nelson Tugume

 The Entrepreneurial contest, Inspire Africa that airs on NTV Uganda every Wednesday at 8pm, the brain child of Nelson Tugume, who was also the Overall Winner of the 2011 Young Achievers' Awards is another example of a member of our generation standing up to be counted.
Project Inspire Africa features twenty-four of East Africa’s most talented young entrepreneurs competing for a grand prize of US$ 50,000 worth of business capital. This is the first ever television reality show of its kind from East Africa, and represents a landmark that is expected to change the entrepreneurial climate and inspire millions of young aspiring entrepreneurs across Africa.

Our generation's minds need to be stimulated. We need inspiration; not just any inspiration, though, otherwise we will have more Makodes overstretching their creativity and offending many. We need focused mind stimulation. 
Give me more 'Mohamed Bouazizis' who are willing to die to see change effected. Give me more 'Nelson Tugumes' who can put their money where their mouth is. Give me more 'Gerald Karuhangas' keen to expose poor governance and corruption rife at the helm of the country's leadership. Give me more 'Yvonne Namagandas' who at such a tender age of 10, died in a school inferno trying to save other little girls she was dorm leader of.

Each one of us is important in this 'change the world' process. So, we all have an opportunity to change 'our' world. You are a world changer. Yes, YOU! reading this...

Let me know, people, who inspires you, to what you are inspired and what you think about inspiration.