“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself”.
- Leo Tolstoy
I love my country but that's also why I have to admit we have our faults, chief among them, the inability to change or accept change easily. You see, Nigerians will be the first ones to tell you that they want the country to be better and more developed but the truth is, most people don't want to work to get us there. Everybody blames the government for the state of the country but they forget the little things too. Workers who get paid salaries for their work still want you to bribe them before doing their jobs. There is almost nothing that can be done in Nigeria without you having to bribe somebody. Most people have the mentality that if they ever get into a position of power, since others before them have embezzled, they too will stow away with their own share. It's this mentality that is killing this country slowly. People aren't really looking for a way forward. Political aspirants aren't contesting because they want to better the country, they just want their own turn at the piggy bank.
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world”.
- Mahatma Gandhi
Everybody is too busy pointing to other people to lead the path to change. Nobody wants to be the person that leads, people are waiting for that person. The sad truth is that, eventually, if change occurs and people have to be a little uncomfortable before things get better, then everyone complains and blames the leader. Kinda like in the Bible where the Israelites were grateful that Moses took them out of Egypt, but they were always pretty quick to turn on him and wish they had never left Egypt when they faced any single form of hardship on the road. Nobody wants to lead the charge because nobody wants to be blamed for anything that goes wrong.
We complain about corruption a lot in Nigeria but as long as we benefit from the current system, we don't truly want change to occur. We complain about the lax adherence to rules and inadequate enforcement of laws, but we still take advantage of these things. If anything changes and we don't benefit directly, then it doesn't matter if it's for the good of all, we'll complain.
Smarten up people. You can't have positive change without a little struggle and hard work. All we are doing now is leaving the mess for the upcoming generation to sort out and that's unfair.
You say you want change, well work for it.
All images were obtained from pixabay.com
