HOW ARE YOU LIVING YOUR HISTORY? Asks Martin Udogie

In her book, No Higher Honour, Condoleezza Rice, the first Black American lady to be National Security Adviser to the U.S president and also U.S. Secretary of State, has a quote:

“History is lived forwards but it is written in retrospect.”

And then on her last day in office as US Secretary of State, she says to herself, “My, you’ve lived a lot of history.”

It’s so true. It is your actions and inactions, choices, infact whatever you do now, today, and tomorrow, and thereafter, that will make up your history, whenever it is written.

So, what’s going to be your history…your story?

Here’s one of my favourite examples of a personal story.

As a 16-year old, Sydney Weinberg, after dropping out of PS 13 (Public School No 13), needed a job, badly.

“At 8 o’clock one morning, I took the elevator to the 23rd floor of 43 Exchange Place, a nice-looking tall building on lower Manhattan, New York. Starting from the top, I stuck my head in every office and asked, as politely as I could, “Want a boy?’

“By 6 o’clock, I had worked my way down to the third floor…”

There, he encountered a small brokerage firm, where he was asked to come back next day.

He was hired for $5 a week as an assistant to Jarvis, the janitor. The year was 1907!

He worked his entire life in the small brokerage firm, building it into the world famous and powerful Goldman Sachs. He became Senior Partner in 1930, until his death in 1969, i.e. for 39 years, 30 out of that as Chairman.

Inside Goldman Sachs he addressed as “Chairman”. To outsiders, he was “Mr. Wallstreet.”

He served on 31 corporate boards, attending up to 250 committees and board meetings in a year. He was confidant and adviser to U.S Presidents often chairing Presidential committees.

Yet, he lived all his life, in the same house he bought in the 1920s. And always went to work on the Subway.

When he died on July 23, 1969, his Obituary made the front page of the New York Times along with the story of the first man (Neil Armstrong) landing on the moon.

Yet, all this was down to that famous elevator ride, in 1907, the moral of which include:

a) He started from the 23rd floor, at 8am and came down to the 3rd floor at 6pm, without ever given up, on any of the floors, thinking that there’s no job in the other floors below. Not on the 20th, or 15th or 6th floor. He continued way down….

b) Had he started climbing that 23-story building, from the ground up, he would have easily gotten the job on the 3rd floor. But that would have left him thinking that there were more jobs in the upper floors.

c) But coming down all day, from the 23rd until the 3rd floor, he knew there were no jobs up. Hence he took this very one seriously, staying for well over 60 years (1907 – 1969)!

So, that’s Weinberg Story.

History is lived forward. How are you living yours, today?

Warm regards.

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Martin Udogie, a Programme Host for the Radio Nigeria Network, wrote in from Lagos.

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I AM STILL STANDING. WHAT A MIRACLE!… by Martin Udogie

* Martin Udogie.

The last thing he recalls hearing on that day during the match was his team mate, Zat Knight screaming at him to “Come back”. He tried to do as Knight was suggesting, to back-pedal and defend.

But gripped by an inexplicable severe headache, he found he couldn’t run. He felt horribly confused, his head spinning, his vision scrambled. He saw two Scott Parkers ahead of him. And then he just went down.

By the time his head hit the White Hart Lane turf, technically he was dead.

You probably still remember Fabrice Muamba.

On Saturday, March 17, 2012, during the quarter-final FA Cup match between his club, Bolton Wanderers, and Tottenham Hotspur, Fabrice Muamba suddenly collapsed on the pitch. He stopped breathing and was dead….for 78 minutes.

But he lived to tell his story, in his book, I’m Still Standing.

How come Fabrice Muamba came back from the dead, when he stopped breathing for 78 minutes? Was it a miracle? Perhaps!

But for an answer, we have to go back, more than 20 years, to the same venue, White Hart Lane, home of same Premiership club, Tottenham Hotspur.

It was on the evening of September 21, 1991, and a vicious and grudge boxing re-match between Chris Eubank, and Michael Watson was going on.

Eubank was the bad boy of boxing – proud, cocky, boastful but supremely confident and unbeatable. He was giving the game of boxing a bad name. But no one could stop him, until now.

Watson was the nice guy, well liked, equally strong. And an Arsenal supporter!

Their first fight in June of same year, 1991 had ended controversially, with victory awarded to Eubank on points. But everybody knew that Watson had been robbed of that fight.

And so, very quickly a rematch was arranged, barely three months later, to settle scores. It was a12-round fight. Watson was leading on points. And then came Round 11. With a savage punch, Watson sent Eubank reeling to the floor. There were only about 20 seconds left in the Round.

Eubank was finished, his eyes a blur. He was on his knees as he listened to the mandatory 10-counts of the Referee. Other boxers would have given up and allowed themselves to be counted out. But not Chris Eubank.

Round 12. Watson came out. And walked into a torrent of hard punches from Eubank. Then the referee stepped in and stopped the fight. The time was exactly 10:54pm. And Watson was slowly dying…..

The brutal uppercut had caused havoc in Watson's brain; and ruin spread as a giant blood clot formed during the crucial first hour after he had slipped into unconsciousness.

After repeated emergency operations Watson was locked in a coma for 40 days. It seemed he would die or, at best, remain in a persistent vegetative state. He had to learn how to talk again and, hardest of all, walk again.

Against all expectations, Muamba regained consciousness on Monday just two days after his collapse on Saturday. He recognised his fiancee, Shauna Magunda, and asked after their son Joshua.

So why was Muamba recovery from the dead, a “miracle” and Watson’s not.

Here are some critical life-saving differences (in summary).

1.When Muamba went down, it was Van Der Vaart, a player from Spurs, the opposing team, who was the first to be frantically signaling to the pitch-side medical teams for help. The entire pitch fell silent, watching and perhaps praying for him.

But Watson’s opponent, Chris Eubank, was trying to smile as people screamed in joy at him from the ringside. There was blood on his teeth. Not far from ringside, fights broke out among rival fans in sections of the 22,000 crowd.

2. When Watson slipped into coma, there was no emergency resuscitation equipment available at ringside. He was carried from the ring to a waiting, but ill-equipped, ambulance.

The first minutes after Muamba collapsed were crucial. It didn't take long for the CPR to be administered. Instantly given oxygen and professional CPR, his chances were already raised.
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3. Watson was taken to the North Middlesex hospital, arriving there at 23.22pm (almost 30 minutes since the incident). It was the wrong place. There was inadequate resuscitation equipment and no specialist head trauma staff. It wasn’t until 23.55pm when he left North Middlesex for Barts Hospital.

But Muamba continued to get luckier. Sitting in the stand that day was Spurs fan Dr Andrew Deaner, consultant cardiologist at the London Chest Hospital. He was allowed on the pitch to help. Muamba was given 15 defibrillation shocks in all.

And critically, Dr Deaner, convinced the ambulance to take Muamba to the London Chest Hospital – almost eight miles away – rather than, as had been planned, the North Middlesex, much nearer White Hart Lane. This singular, doctor’s advice may have helped to save the footballer's life.

The London Chest Hospital has teams of cardiologists, brain specialists, etc. Some had been listening to the match on the radio, and wondering whether they might get the call to readiness. They were ready, and waiting.

So, did Muamba receive a miracle and Watson did not? Or was Muamba lucky and Watson not so lucky?

Warm regards.

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Martin Udogie, a Programme Host for the Radio Nigeria Network, wrote in from Lagos.

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Articles for publication must have full contact details, including name, address and telephone number of sender and sent by email to: onlinewoolwich@yahoo.co.uk.