Vision is perhaps our greatest strength... it has kept us alive

Li Ka-shing, a man who rose from poverty to become one of the most influential builders of his age, once spoke these words of enduring truth: “Vision is perhaps our greatest strength... it has kept us alive to the power and continuity of thought through the centuries, it makes us peer into the future and lends shape to the unknown.” In this saying, he reminds us that the human spirit does not survive by bread alone, nor by strength of arm, but by the vision that sees beyond the present hour. It is vision that lifts man from despair, that guides him through the wilderness, that shapes civilizations out of wilderness and chaos.

The meaning of this teaching is vast. Without vision, men live only for the moment, like beasts chasing hunger from day to day. But with vision, the mind stretches beyond the present into what can be. It gathers the wisdom of the past, carries it through the present, and shapes the unknown future into possibility. This is the continuity of thought that binds generations together. The works of the ancients, their discoveries, their wisdom, endure not because of brute survival, but because they dared to see what had not yet been seen. Vision is the bridge between what is and what could be.

The origin of this idea may be traced through the story of humanity itself. Think of the prophets of Israel, who foresaw freedom and redemption when their people were enslaved. Think of the philosophers of Greece, who dared to imagine democracy when tyranny was the order of the day. Think of the scientists of the Renaissance, who gazed at the stars and refused to believe the heavens revolved around the earth. Each of these, like Li Ka-shing himself, looked beyond what was known, and in their vision reshaped the course of history.

Consider also the life of Thomas Edison. Where others saw only darkness at the fall of night, he envisioned a world illuminated by artificial light. Where others heard silence, he foresaw the recording of sound. His vision drew shape from the unknown, and from it arose inventions that transformed the daily lives of millions. Had he lived only for the present, had he feared the unknown, the future would have been dimmer. But because his eyes were fixed beyond the visible horizon, the world was changed forever.

Li Ka-shing himself embodied this truth. Born in hardship, orphaned at a young age, he did not surrender to despair. Instead, he envisioned a life of dignity and progress. From humble beginnings as a factory worker, he rose through discipline and foresight to build an empire. His vision was not only of profit, but of continuity, of building bridges between past and future, between east and west, between poverty and prosperity. Thus, his words are not philosophy alone, but testimony born of experience.

The lesson is this: vision must be cultivated in each life. Without it, one becomes prisoner to circumstance, tossed by fate’s winds without rudder or compass. With it, one becomes an architect of destiny, able to endure hardship because one sees beyond it. For those who are young, nurture dreams that reach beyond today’s struggle. For those who are old, pass down the torch of thought, so that your vision may become the seed of tomorrow’s strength.

Therefore, my children, engrave this wisdom upon your hearts: vision is perhaps our greatest strength. It is the eye of the spirit, the lamp of the ages, the power that has carried mankind from caves to cities, from silence to song, from ignorance to knowledge. Let your eyes not rest only on what is, but lift them to what may be. Dare to peer into the future, dare to give shape to the unknown, and in doing so, you will join the great procession of those who have built eternity from the dust of time.