Let’s share our positive stories
Last Sunday, I attended the Thanks-Giving Service of one of our national icons, JH Mensah, at the Christ the King Catholic Church in the Jubilee House enclave of Accra. The church service was billed to begin at 10:30 am. I arrived by 9:30 am with the purpose of mournfully greeting familiar faces and socializing a bit before the service began. I finally settled down in a pew at 10 am. I was very relaxed and ready for any level of lateness drama—the Ghanaian way.
At exactly 10:30, the un-Ghanaian thing happened! The service began—right on time. It was very impressive; and it was very Ghanaian! The message to me was very clear: Ghanaians can also be on time. By extension, Ghanaians can also do things right. At even a much deeper level, Ghana can work for us all to make us happy so we will stop the constant bickering about how nothing works well. It all resides in the attitude and determination to make things work.
The incident kept me thinking: Was that a one-off case of being exactly on time? Or it is in the DNA of Christ the King Church to start programmes on time as advertised? If it is in the DNA of the Church to do things right, to what extent does that affect everything it does as an institution? It will even be more revealing if this good DNA has permeated the lives of the members of this church congregation and by extension, other Catholic churches.
Goodness can beget goodness! Imagine if the positive story of church services beginning on time at Christ the King positively permeates Ghana! And we decide that we will collectively, from henceforth, have zero tolerance for lateness, for mediocrity, for corruption, for potholes, for laziness, and for all our other funky narratives. And then as we increase the number of things we do right, we go out there to share the favourable stories!
I believe that there is a restorative power in good stories. The restoration may exhibit itself through momentary cheers and good feelings, or deeply-ingrained hope that can lift the spirit and spur people on to higher, bigger, better and awesome accomplishments.
AS IFTHE SKY IS FALLING!
The headline of a recent PEW Research finding screamed: “One-in-five or more adults in Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa say they plan to move to another country”. Specifically, according to the Global Attitudes Survey,a staggering 42% of adult Ghanaians indicated that they plan to move to another country in the next five years.
It probably does not matter where they are going; they will just take off! They are dreaming of leaving this fine country behind—the land of their birth; the land of birth of their mothers, fathers, grandparents. They may become our own 21stCentury explorers who seek to conquer new lands away from the west coast of Africa—as economic migrants.
For 42% of adult Ghanaians to entertain thoughts of migration suggests that if we were to roll back the clock to the peak of the Transatlantic slave trade in the late 18thCentury, and slave ships had berthed on our shores, there might not have been any need to forcefully capture people since they would have willingly stampeded into the slave ships to be transported out of our land. Our royal countrymen/women would have handed themselves over with the plea, “Take me; take me! Hear I am!”
Yes, when we look at all sectors of our society, it may be difficult to pinpoint aspects that are above reproach, bitter criticism and condemnation; and of which we are very proud. From sanitation, pot-holed roads, street lights, electricity, unemployment, lousy hospital system and social services—we openly express dissatisfaction with the state of affairs.
Our four-year political campaign cycle provides too many opportunities for us to be over-promised. And easily and predictably, the promises are not fulfilled, resulting in the rude violations of our expectations. So over time, we have become peeved and frustrated; so complain a lot.
We are very smart and alert people so know what is possible; and of our national potential. We know that God had indeed blessed our homeland Ghana with gold, crude oil, diamond, bauxite, fertile lands and many others. Unfortunately, although we can envision better days, we constantly hear of our money being squandered. In what appears to be a heightened state of disappointment, some people seem to have given up on Ghana. Everyone has a breaking point. And that explains why people will consider their departure from the known to the unknown. May be they are eager to get out of here alive before Ghana kills them!
NO WHERE COOL!
Tro-tro owners of old used to inscribe the most profound quotes on their vehicles. One of my favourites was: “Nowhere cool”. To wit, the “aburokyiri” we hunger after is not heaven. Hopelessness drives people into the Sahara desert and into dingy boats to cross the Mediterranean Sea, en route to Europe to seek for greener pastures. You may arrive in Europe or USA only to meet racism face-to-face. Truly, there’s no place like home!
But let the truth be told: our current public narratives are depressing—to say the least. Constantly, we are telling ourselves that nothing works; that Ghana is a failure. Some people even go to the extreme of maintaining that Ghana is a failed state. No, Ghana has not failed! Yes, we have problems (who doesn’t!). So clearly, the sky is not falling on Ghana. We have challenges that are not impossible to resolve.
Chances are that we might be suffering from a national ailment of exhaustion that is borne out of disappointment. The negativity is palpable and cuts through the pains in national discourse. If we found psychologists to examine us, it might be established that most of us are depressed. How do you build a nation with a bunch of depressed people who whip up negative sentiments from sun-up to sun-down? We need national healing from negativity!
SAVE THE SOUL OF GHANA
Just like in any other society, we in Ghana too have multiple stories—the good, the bad and the ugly. The more we condemn Ghana, the more likely we are to create self-fulfilling prophesies. Ghana cannot continue like this with this overdose of negativity. It is not healthy for the soul. It is tiring.
Whilst we fix all that do not work well, we will need to reset the buttons and share favourable stories about our Ghana. We should ‘shine our eyes’ to take note of the positive stories and tell other people about them as in: “Wow! I just noticed this fine road without potholes!” “The customer service I received from XYZ Company was 1stclass!” When we notice the little but great and good things, instead of the horrible and ugly, we may save the soul of Ghana.
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