By: Kodwo BRUMPON
Dear Fellow Citizen,
“A chattering bird builds no nest.” – African proverb
Ever since humanity realised that nothing is ever going to be the same; that our imperfections would never be overcome, and more importantly, life goes on even if we do not live it; development and progress become aspirations. As a people, we are no exception.
As a society, we have aspired to make progress in different facets of our lives. It is true that there are not many feats that we can feast about, but we have put in some effort.
Unfortunately, we have become so preoccupied with our inadequacies and failures, that we are now stuck in front of our hurdles and compensate ourselves by turning our poems into dirges. All we sing of are our inadequacies, and the repetition has morphed into a flat, one-tone tune.
Our state of shame about our imperfections is preventing us from moving forward. We are so blinded our failings, we do not realize they are the foundation on which we can make progress.
Our fathers understood that principle and they let our imperfections necessitate a anthem that would galvanise us into positive action.
When I was little, the national anthem sounded magical in my ears. I did not know why, but I knew there was something special about the anthem. It took years for me to realise that the anthem was a prayer.
What I find strange about us and our ‘prayer anthem’ is that, we have cultivated an attitude that rejects everything we ask of God. In its stead, we have designed a system which desecrates and diminishes the vision of our fathers.
The singing of our ‘prayer anthem’ is a promissory expression on our part to live in ways epitomising the dream contained in it. The blessing we implore of God is not a description of a futuristic vision that jumps a mile ahead every time we get close. Rather, it is a reality that begins with every Ghanaian alive now.
Every one of us represents a blend of the great and strong nation we desire. How we talk and ‘walk the talk’ represents the past, the present and the future of our nation. Needless to say, our present realities demands that we rouse ourselves out of our slumber and endure the painful purification of our past mistakes and absurdities, so that we can carve the future so beautifully dreamed by our forefathers.
For too long we have divorced our past from the present and distanced it from the future. Instead of being bold to defend forever the cause of freedom and of right, we have narrowed living in our nation to partisan exclusivity. Our inability to look beyond the bowl of tuo zaafi is indicative of our misunderstanding of vision.
Thus, instead of marching forward, we are marking time, crippled by the fear of losing out on the grilled tilapias we have now. The trend we have cultivated is to block and black out ideas and ideals. And the excuse we give is that we are waiting for the perfect person and the perfect moment to begin living nationalistically. “Baby steps,” and “tomorrow we will start,” have become our chorus.
It is true that times are hard, but we do not necessarily have to make it harder. Instead of cherishing who we are and what we have, we keep remembering how bad some of the norms we had were and keep explaining everything away.
A hard life is a life of opportunities. It challenges us to seek out the little good and make it better and if possible turn it into best. It inspires an appreciative attitude that rethinks issues and events in such a way that we can use whatever good we have to help us and others to make progress.
Regrettably, many of us by our attitudes make life harder. What is harder than moving mountains to resist everything our families and friends suggest to us? What is harder than ballooning their submissions and proposals out with the adage, “it would be better to kick the ball out for a throw-in than to let it roll over the line for a corner-kick?”
is it any strange that we go begging our oppressors to come and create opportunities for us, even though we pray God to ‘help us to resist our oppressors rule’ every day.
I cannot talk about honesty, because we reasoned it out of the equation a long time ago. Our quest to be ‘sharp’ meant we had to embrace deceitfulness.
To top it, we found out that fear is a much needed tool that can suppress the majority and so when we pray for fearlessly, deep down we tell God to let our people to be ‘afraid men’ a little while longer. That would prevent them from questioning our antics and we can enjoy being bosses.
When our forefather paved the way for us – a way of living in freedom and in justice, the objective was for us to live with each other and for each other in a special relationship.
But, this special relationship was not an end in itself; but to flower a loving and eternal relationship with God. That is why they entreated us to pray God to “fill our hearts with true humility.” They understood the centrality of our position on the globe and envisioned that we could become the light of the world.
To achieve that, God had to shine His face upon us and be gracious to us; God had to lift up His countenance on us, and give us the peace we needed. Unfortunately, the motivators have drummed into us that self-definition is what makes us who we are.
Since the surprising majority of us love beating our chests about our achievements, we are afraid to ask God to make us humble lest we actually become humble and people treat us like ‘door-mats.’
My dear colleague, our individual dreams can only flourish when the vision of our country flourishes. Like our fathers taught us, “the right hand bathes the left and the left hand bathes the right.” What we are witnessing, ill-advisedly, is a right hand that is bathing itself.
I do not know how, but some of us think it is possible for modern says that ‘everything is possible.’ We live to see, but until then let us thoughtfully reflect on the ‘prayer anthem’ we have and mould our attitudes to receive the blessings we ask for.
Have a good day, and remember you are the only one who can make this nation great and strong.
Sincerely,
A Fellow Citizen.
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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]
