You have passion, and that matters more

This turned out longer than I wanted it to be, but I couldn't take anything out once I wrote it. This is about one of my personal heroes. Sorry if it bores.

William Wilberforce was born in England in 1759. As a child, he was sickly and delicate, with poor eyesight. His father died when he was nine years old, and he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Wimbledon. At the age of 17 he went to Cambridge and met William Pitt, who would be his lifelong friend. As students, Pitt and Wilberforce would go watch the House of Commons debates from the gallery. After a couple of years, Pitt finally convinced Wilberforce to follow him in a political career and by the age of just 21, while he was still a student, Wilberforce was elected as an MP (Member of Parliament).

Wilberforce was criticized for inconsistency, but he remained an independent MP and supported both the Whig and the Tory governments according to his conscience, voting on specific measures according to their merits. He became a great orator, and when he stood up, he would speak with an absolute conviction. The diarist and author, James Boswell, witnessed Wilberforce's eloquence in the House of Commons and noted: "I saw what seemed a mere shrimp mount upon the table; but as I listened, he grew, and grew, until the shrimp became a whale." In 1783, William Pitt became Prime Minister at age 24, the youngest person ever to assume the office. Pitt most likely offered Wilberforce a ministerial position, but Wilberforce opted to remain an independent MP.
In 1784, Wilberforce was converted to Christianity, a decision which would change his life and ultimately his career. He made a habit of getting up early in the morning and reading the bible, resolving to commit his future life and work to the service of God. In 1787, after learning about the horrors of the slave trade, William sensed that he had a call from God, and wrote in his journal, “God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of [Moral Values].”

Wilberforce, however, had to fight through a lot. In 1788 he became deathly sick and couldn’t resume his work. Finally in 1789 he was able to get up and make his first speech on abolition in the House of Commons. He declared slavery morally reprehensible and an issue of natural justice. It was two years before Wilberforce was finally able to introduce a bill to abolish the slave trade. He gave a fiery four hour long speech before the vote was taken, but the bill was easily defeated.

The next year in 1792 he brought another bill calling for abolition. The memorable debate that followed drew contributions from all of the greatest orators in the house: William Pitt, Charles Fox, and Wilberforce himself. In the end this bill was defeated by a ‘compromise’ of gradual abolition that would be delayed indefinitely.
In 1793, another vote to abolish the slave trade was defeated by only eight votes, and in 1794 Wilberforce brought another unsuccessful bill before Parliament. Even though abolitionists began to lose popularity and were fewer in number, Wilberforce continued to introduce abolition bills all through the 1790’s, and each time he failed.

During this time, he met Barbara Spooner and within eight days knew that she was the one he should marry and proposed to her. They were married a couple months later and would have six kids. Wilberforce suffered a bitter defeat to his bill in 1805 and even the usually sympathetic Pitt failed to support it. The next year brought a lot of change; William Pitt died, and Wilberforce decided to give support to the Grenville/Fox administration (Whigs). After adopting tactics proposed by a shrewd maritime lawyer James Stephen, Grenville took Wilberforce’s bill and got it passed through the house of Lords by a large margin.
Then with tears streaming down Wilberforce’s face, he watched as the bill passed in the House of Commons by a vote of 283 to 16! He succeeded after over 15 years.



Finally Wilberforce decided to push for total emancipation, or freedom of slaves. The next years of his life were characterized by bad health, failing eyesight, and defeated bills. In April 1833 he gave his final abolition speech, and then got a severe case of influenza from which he never recovered. He heard while bed ridden with sickness that in July 1833 the Bill for the Abolition of Slavery passed, formally saluting him in the process. Three days later he passed away and was buried next to his friend William Pitt in Westminster Abbey.

Because of the work of one man, William Wilberforce, over 800,000 people were freed from slavery ranging from the West Indies and South Africa to the Caribbean. You wonder how one man with failing health could have such a profound effect on almost 1 million people, and you might say it was his persistence, or that God helped him, which are probably both true; but I like the line from the preview above that says “You have passion, and that matters more.”
Often times the people that do great things are the ones that care the most about their work, and perhaps that gives you the power you need.

Passion - (from the Latin patior, meaning to suffer or to endure) is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for anything...