Yesterday I watched the movie Amazing Grace, about the anti-slavery struggle of William Wilberforce and his friends. Although the movie is about events which happened in the past, it also gives excellent directions for shaping the future. It shows that a small group of people with a sufficiently compelling objective and sufficient determination and persistence can overcome overwhelming odds to achieve that objective.
First, it is necessary for the objective to be clear and compelling. You need to be able to see what the future will look like when the objective is achieved, and it has to be something that is worth struggling for. Secondly, you have to be determined. You have to be willing to make sacrifices, devote a significant amount of your energy, and lie awake at night dreaming of ways to reach the objective. Thirdly, you have to be persistent. You have to face up to criticism, abuse and setbacks, and keep heading forwards until the objective is reached.
It is easy for us to look back and say that the great social issue of the day was slavery, and Wilberforce’s objective of abolition was the right one. But if we are looking forwards, how do we identify the great issue or issues of our day? What is the objective to which we should be devoting the rest of our lives?