By Kodwo Brumpon
““Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.” – African proverb
For a while now, there has been a deep longing in us as a people to examine why our aliveness is plagued with so much chaotic instances of mediocrity, corruption and disconnection.
We know we can and ought to do better, but something about us so strange that we struggle to understand, has gotten many of us frozen on the spot. Our transcendent experience of truth, goodness and beauty has grown so dim in some of us, and altogether extinguished in the rest of us, that we have become blind, deaf and dead to the life of feeling, these divine attributes inspirit us.
Our truth, and goodness and beauty have been tweaked in ways, that make is almost impossible to discern the honourable thing to do in the moments, the loving thing to do when called to duty, and the correct shape of loyalty to our motherland.
It is no secret that many of us are cornered between vices and flawed dogmas in our decision-making options. Thus, we are always pained about our choices because someone or some group of persons must endure some form of avoidable suffering. A cruel reminder of how much pain we must inflict upon each other because our society makes it extremely difficult to be a good person.
This background makes the call to “Reflect, Review and Reset” more important, if not essential. The time has come for us to rid our society of the paradoxes, moral ambiguities, and impossible choices. Para-phrasing the words of Jean-François Beauchemin, the Canadian novelist, it is “an invitation to a certain, forgotten way of seeing the world, and an exultation at earthly life, with its duration so short it obliges us to surpass ourselves.” Philosophically, it is a call for us to “come around to a more abstract and somehow purer way of seeing life,” so that we can renew ourselves and the world around us.
As with all reflective exercises, the most necessary questions are what ought to consider. Amongst them are “what makes us who we are,” “what makes us happy,” and “what makes life worth living.” While it is true that some may disagree with these particular set of questions and others may also argue that it is possible for the population to divide and take opposite positions on the questions even when they think rationally, honestly, and with good will about them; we cannot change our ways if we are unwilling to confront the core of ourselves. Otherwise, it would be like going to war while “sowing sew peace banners on the battlefield,” or “fighting a civil war against your ally,” and or “using the wrong weapons in battle.”
There are some amongst us who might be offended that we need to “Reflect, Review and Reset” our national agenda. It is not strange because some of us are blissfully unaware that we are not a great society, and then, there are those who believe everything is getting better and so we have no cause to worry. But whatever your perception of our nation is, there is still a lot of room for improvement. That is what is at stake in this reflective agenda. There is a lot we can do for ourselves, and if not for ourselves, at least for our children and our children’s children. That is a good enough reason for us to wake up and do something about the smell of the rot in our nation.
Let us therefore confront ourselves, as individuals and as a people about the questions above. From them, a multitude of other questions would emerge. Reflecting on ourselves and reviewing our attitudes is always interesting because each question opens other doors for deeper self-exploration, challenging us to understand the intricate tapestry of influences that make us who we are, inspires the things that makes us happy, and the worth we place on life and the dignity of other people.
Let us understand that undertaking this exercise stem more from whether we want the best for our nation so that we can be the best of ourselves, or if we want to just achieve our personal goals and our nation can tag along as we grow? This is a call for objectivity. It is not about abandoning or weakening our convictions. History has always taught us that honest convictions are arrived at after an open-minded search for truth; while a prejudice is one arrived at before. Honesty leads to conviction, not away from it. So, let us get honest and inspire the best within ourselves to raise to the top of our thinking and attitudes…
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Kodwo Brumpon is an executive coach at Polygon Oval, a forward-thinking Pan African management consultancy and social impact firm driven by data analytics, with a focus on understanding the extraordinary potential and needs of organisations and businesses to help them cultivate synergies, that catapults into their strategic growth, and certifies their sustainability.
Comments, suggestions, and requests for talks and training should be sent to him at [email protected]
