Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid announces second part of 'Lessons from Life'

The book is the second part of Lessons from Life and includes messages addressed to his brothers, children, grandchildren, his team, the people of the UAE and anyone who sees lessons worth reflecting on in his experience.

In announcing the book, Sheikh Mohammed said that individual lives form part of the larger story of their nations and that each generation has a responsibility to leave behind something of value for those who follow.

“Life has taught me that our years are part of the story of our nations, and wisdom lies in adding a chapter worth reading by future generations,” he wrote.

“As I approach nearly 60 years of public service to the nation, I have written a collection of messages to my brothers, my children, my grandchildren, my team, my people, and to everyone who sees in our experience something worthy of reflection.”

Sheikh Mohammed said he wrote the messages because “lives pass, but ideas grow and endure”, adding that there was a responsibility to leave behind lessons that could shorten the road for those who would carry the trust in the future.

The first message in the book is an extensive and personal letter to Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, reflecting on their decades-long relationship, the legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE President’s leadership and what Sheikh Mohammed described as the deeper responsibilities of building a nation.

I have known you, my brother, as President of our nation: generous towards your people, a faithful guardian of the future of your children, and compassionate, tolerant and magnanimous towards everyone who lives on your land.

When a little girl leaves her home every day, a child who knows nothing of the corridors of politics or the complexities of economics, and goes to school feeling safe; when she travels through the streets of her country and sees beauty and order; when she reaches her school and sees on its walls that her country has reached space and that its ambitions touch the sky, she begins to dream of what she can become.

When that little girl dreams with certainty, confident that a great future awaits her in her country, we know that you have fulfilled the trust placed in you and realised your dreams for our nation and for our generations.

Instilling confidence, security and optimism in the heart of a little girl is among your greatest achievements, my brother.How fortunate you are to have this nation, my brother, and how fortunate we are to have you.

And how fortunate you are to be building their future before they are old enough to see it.

We watch how you have turned your ambitions into institutions, your ideas into projects and initiatives, and your international relationships into economic, political and investment bridges that bring prosperity to the UAE.

We watch, my brother, how your country has become wiser than the times it lives in, better prepared for the future than the world around it, and more capable of endurance and resilience than the circumstances surrounding it.

Life has taught me that cities can be built, skylines can rise and facilities can be constructed, but more important than all of that is the spirit of the nation, the spirit that unites everyone, safeguards stability, inspires generations and awakens the energy of the young.Today, you are that spirit, my brother.

Hearts unite around you, people move forward behind you, the country’s borders are safeguarded under your leadership, and the people rally around you with one heart, one hand and an energetic national spirit.

Life has taught me, my brother, that the greatest danger facing nations is not the threats at their borders, but complacency creeping into the minds of their young people when they move from a culture of achievement to a culture of entitlement.

You taught young people that comfort and luxury do not preserve what previous generations built; that seriousness and discipline are foundations of nation-building; and that prosperity and progress are responsibilities and honours, not privileges or luxuries.

You taught the young, my brother, that what we inherited is not a reward but a trust, one to which we must add before passing the flag to those who come after us.

Today, you carry the trust of a nation and the responsibility of building a future for generations not yet old enough to see it, a trust you pledged to uphold before God, history and the people.