“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” Albert Einstein
Societal Resourcefulness
“Kids of these days” my mom will say when she believes that an ear pull is in order when we go wrong in supposed expected behavior that did not come as expected. Teenagers with their teenage issues can be distressing but, mine’s distress becomes more amusing a times due to her naiveté as to happenings outside the confines of this great country the USA. Like most other inquisitive teens of her age, I narrate my discussions to her. Social and political concerns that I sometimes had with friends, she sometimes eavesdrops to my conversation of which I do not discourage her. I narrated a discuss among some friends; it is about Nigeria and their activity process of one step forward, three steps backward and eternity on standing still. We have been getting first-hand news about happenings in Nigeria, all over Nigeria I must without exception. To compound the situation, the news of the recent tragic death of six or seven doctors, traveling to a conference in an accident was just filtering in through the social media. Unconfirmed as at then, however; it took center stage and became the topic of discussion anyway. devastating as it is, deviating interest from fuel and electricity scarcity that has more or less grounded societal activities of daily living. As I suspected, the social issues are not unconnected.
Curiosity of a young lady
The nonexistence of social amenities and other infrastructures that since been a concern of many Nigerians is now in focus again. How we easily forget that this is a repeat of same incident in two months or so. My daughter, in her mild and passively aggressive manner and fact of reasoning, she asked a question that initially bothered me. Speaking directly into the phone's earpiece in a whisper, her tempered voice quivered and she asked in a tone that actually sat me up. “What is resourcefulness, Daddy?” What? I retorted, this is a young lady that will be taking The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) very soon and here, she does not know what the English word “Resourcefulness” is. “You know” she continued, “a while back, you used to remind me that Life doesn't always hand us solutions to go with the problems we encounter. If you're in a pinch, sometimes all you need is a bit of creativity to get through it. Being resourceful means solving problems with what you have and doing more with less. Mmmh! I sighed. Intelligent kids, she and I often go at it in brain tease. She, working as hard as she can to prove to me that the age of Google is here and I, the never say die, stands my grounds; I am a product of Pilgrims Baptist Grammar School you know and one of my old teachers, Dr. Ugbolue will turn in his grave if I don’t defend what was assumed to be one of the best in the region. “Okay”, she quipped, “there is no electricity and the people are in the dark.” Pausing for breath, “the people Dad, the people!” a long pause again, this time I was waiting for a conclusion and at the same time, I was rehearsing a good come back to rebuttal whatever statement that follows. “There are very wealthy and educated people out there, this has been an ongoing lack and no one is doing something about it. Finding a way to have constant electricity for their families and even taking advantage of the demand and making money” I did not want that discussion to continue but I asked how, anyway. “Do you remember something they call sun somewhere, up somewhere that actually differentiates day and night here? You can actually generate electricity out of it. They are doing and using it in Rwanda.” wait a minute now, I jibed. Knowing fully well where she was going with this discussion, I found myself asking her to bring the argument up some other time as I needed to shoot some breeze with some friends.
That brings to mind the philosophy of thought pattern, the ideation of active thinking and the progressive concept of mind shift that me thinks we have not been able to fully develop in most developing countries. The aforementioned folks, is the supporting pillars of continuous indifference to societal growth that has kept poverty level highly sustained, well oxygenated and generationally maintained. A common aphorism maintains that doing the something over and over is guaranteed to yield you the same result over and over again. Jim Rohn, one of the speakers that I most admire was credited to have said that “If you spend five minutes complaining, you have just wasted five minutes. If you continue complaining, it won't be long before they haul you out to a financial desert and there let you choke on the dust of your own regret.” My take in it is, that the idea of it is us but them, blaming the government, the politicians and every other person that is authority defines the victim mentality, it defines powerlessness and an acceptance of confusion in leadership of “SELF and OTHERS” You have to be able to lead yourself before you can lead others. Person of authority who speaks before a thought is rudderless boat, a past American president was credited as saying that a leader should speak softly but carry a big stick. Me thinks that the BIG-STICK is a symbol of consequences and repercussions. Nigeria does not have that, ask Ibori.
What I belief counts?
I have always believed that financial and character corruption in developing societies is as a result of leaders not having skills and they find themselves at the helm of affairs in the society. I personally believe that a master craftsman will be very proud to show off their creation, leaders in developing countries shows off what they have or own because they cannot create anything. They do not have the skill to develop progressively positive philosophies; they do not know how to find and develop solutions to go with the problems they encounter. Thinking they say, is the hardest work there is, that might be the reason a few of these so-called African leaders attempt it. I believe W.L. Phelps when he said that some people at some age, their minds closes up and they survive on their intellectual fat.
Conclusion
I also believe that citizens of developing societies such as Nigeria must engage themselves in very passionate, enduring crusade against the continuous downhill drag. Options are limited because it is a binary, either up or down. The infectiously accepted tradition of which I call herd mentality should be put away (what tradition says of them and us is my anger). A rethink should instead be started because the Cargo Cult mentality is a timid disease that creates the abstract wait for a gracious happenstance called luck or rewards from a deity of your chosen. Malicious philosophy it is because it robs societies the pursuit of creativities. Think people, think; create people; create. Be unique and serve your purpose to the source. Yes, Nigeria lack resources, that is known fact and it has caused a lot failures as we know it today, we must also rethink our resourcefulness, I strongly believe that it is the biggest cause of societal failure. The President, M. Buhari has to educate himself with the fact that there are litany of philosophically wrong tour-guides that thrives better on weeds of negativity. They will, if not neutered, move into the garden and take away everything of value.
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