Are We Truly Humans?

We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity; more than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. – Charles Chaplin 

There’s so much going on in our world causing tension everywhere and at the heart of Africa is the 2020 revolutions going on. First, is in Namibia with the hashtag #ShutItAllDown on social media. Namibians are protesting the huge number of rape and femicide cases against women.

Second, is my home country, Nigeria where the youths are protesting for an end to police brutality and an end to the notorious arm of the police force called SARS using the hashtag #EndSARS on social media. Now, this move is strong because of the pains people are going through, the trauma, the loss of their loved ones, and everything in-between.

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seated with scars. – Kchlil Gibran

It’s no news how rotten our system is here in Nigeria and many factors are responsible for this but I would just address one of them which is the family. I am particularly concerned about this unit because it is the foundation for a good or a bad outcome in the lives of people.

The closest unit to every human is the family and if not properly taught the right values, the child(ren) from that family might end up learning the wrong things and become a problem to society in the coming years.

Let me bring this home. In Nigeria, more often than naught, we complain about the failed system, failed government, failed leadership, and a bunch of other failed things. Citizens lament on how they are continuously extorted by the government created to help them. They cry of how they are being killed by the ones they pay to protect them and somehow, this hurt is on the rise.

We tell ourselves that the system has failed us, that the government has turned their backs on us yet, commercial bus drivers who at the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown carried 2 passengers on a row in their vehicle for double the transportation fare have now begun to carry additional 2 passengers on that same row and at the same cost. This is clearly extortion in its basic form. 

Some other people who obviously can afford a couple of things express their displeasure about the government yet, they go ahead to manipulate vendors, buy many things and yet pay some ridiculous amount for these items which they know so well that it’s unfair still, they go ahead. Some even go as far as buying these things on credit. I wonder how they want these vendors to survive. We swiftly forget that the cheated go through worse pain because not only are they indirectly being cheated by the government, they are directly cheated by you. How do you see it?

If we ever clamour for change, it has to begin with us, right from our families where right values are taught, discipline instilled and characters formed. If you ever think of having a ‘new’ country, start by teaching your children or ward what is right and what you hope to see in the country.

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If you think the system is full of indiscipline, teach your children discipline.

If you think the government is not being accountable to her citizens, teach your children accountability.

Whatever it is that you think the system or the government lacks that can make them better, teach that to your children so that their generation can do better and live better.

Teaching your children starts with you doing those things yourself because children learn faster and better by imitation. Once they see you do it, it’s easier for them to do the same.

The question has actually shifted from “Are you parenting the right way?” to “Are you the adult that you want your child(ren) to grow up to be?”

We truly cannot wait for the government to fix all our problems. Right from your family to your neighborhood, identify a problem, and fix it. It doesn’t have to be big. Lend a helping hand to someone in need around you if you have the ability to do that. It won’t hurt. That way, we would be contributing our quota to the progress of the nation.

Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people. – Roy T. Bennett

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What truly makes us human is in our ability to love, to give, and to serve. That is how we are hardwired. Let us begin to respond to our natural traits and make the world a better place.

Love and Light,
#gleaningwithgrace