I’m sitting precariously at 35,000 feet above the earth, on a Delta
Airlines flight from Atlanta, Georgia to Syracuse, New York; thinking
back on the activities of the weekend. I was at an event in Columbia,
South Carolina on Saturday where former US President, Bill Clinton was
guest speaker. I’ve always been fascinated by the Clintons, and it’s
barely three weeks since I was listening to Hillary talk about the role
of young people in building a better world. Hillary spoke directly to me
on Monday April 23, 2012 when she said “Be skeptical, but don’t be
cynical”. She was talking about why young people need to be engaged with
the political system and seek ways of being involved in birthing a new
world. I’m guessing someone must have let slip to Hillary that I was
completely disillusioned with politics and had sworn to never be
involved with the ‘dirty game’. This time, it’s Bill’s words that I
recall: “creative cooperation works”; he was speaking about the
possibility of each person being a change agent and realizing that all
human beings are connected together irrespective of their location in
the world. He said; “whether we like it or not, our futures are bound
together”. The Clintons are very smart people and between Bill, Hillary
and Chelsea, the world has seen a model of a family devoted to public
service and seeking social justice. “I hope I can build such a family
some day”, I began to think to myself.
The plane is jolted sharply as we run into some thick clouds, and I’m
snapped back to reality. “What a weekend I had! It felt so good to be
away from my daily routine and spend some precious time with friends and
family; now I’m headed back to my life as usual.” Just before taking
off, I engaged in a few discussions about the importance of hard work,
even in America, especially for those of us who realize what it took to
get to the white man’s land. We mourned the decrepit state of social
services back home and made light jokes about how impossible it was to
have so many houses built without fences; in fact, I have not seen a
single fenced house in all thirteen American cities that I’ve travelled
in recently. “What kind of superior thinking led these people to realize
that the best form of security lies in keeping one’s doors slightly
open for all to see? That’s weird, isn’t it?”
I’m peeking out of my window now and I can see the entire city of
Atlanta sprawled beautifully under me. “What an amazing view! This is
surely God’s own country. How long, if ever, will it take us to build
cities like this in Nigeria? How soon will we get over the needless
bickering and petty politics that we seem so hung up on and get about
delivering social services to people and creating structures that
encourage further development? Random thoughts are jostling for
attention in my mental cavity and I remember the email I received from a
friend last week; he pastors a church in Syracuse and he had read a
post in an online magazine about pastors in Nigeria encouraging their
followers to respond to the recent spate of bombings in the north with
equal violence. He thought that this admonition negated the principles
of Christianity and wanted to get my views on it. I was quite enraged as
I skipped over the article. With rapid fire, I mailed the following
response to him:
“A lot has been made about the tensions in the predominantly
Muslim north and Christian south, but in my opinion, the lines are not
so clearly drawn. The south is divided into the South-West, South-East
and South-South. The South-East and South-South are mainly Christian,
though several Muslims live there too, however the South-West where I’m
from, is evenly split between Christians and Muslims.
For all I know, in all three regions in the South, there have been
few religious wars in recent times. The wars seem to always emanate out
of the North and the line of attack has often been on churches. That, I
believe camouflages the war as being religious, however, the roots of
the war are political and economic. I don’t know that Muslims are riled
against Christians because they antagonize Christianity; what I believe
is that they have taken to attacking Christians because the former
President (1999-2007) was a Christian from the South-West and the
sitting President (2011 till date) is a Christian from the South-South.
Their grouse is not against Christianity, but underdevelopment in the
North. Mostly all developmental projects in the country are concentrated
across the south; to the detriment of the North. Literacy rates in some
states in the north are as low as 20% and conditions of living up there
are the worst in the country. However, because much of the culture is
based on Islam, and much of the instruction is given through the
religious leaders, the first line of attack in channeling their
grievance is through religious institutions, hence the attack on
churches. I believe that they are merely expressing their disappointment
at the level of underdevelopment in their regions when contrasted with
the resources available in the country.
That being said, I have not heard a single Christian preacher
motivate his audience to respond to the attacks with violence, as some
have said. Of course, I have heard Christians complain about the
killings and voice out their frustrations, but I guess commentators are
over-stretching their imaginations by saying that Christians are
actually considering violence. As recent as the latest attacks
yesterday, I read about Christians being puzzled as to the way forward,
but I sincerely doubt that violence is a serious consideration.
Christians have been very civil about this all along, knowing that this
really is not a religious war, but a manifestation of the challenges of
underdevelopment.
We all pray for solutions soon, but none seems to be coming from
the current crop of political elite in the country, quite sadly.”
We’ve been traveling for more than two hours now. I can still see the
lights in the far distance even though we’re now several miles above
earth. There’s a feeling of serenity all over the aircraft as we take in
the beautiful sunset. My thoughts quickly shift back to Bill Clinton;
he made some simple yet profound statements in his 30-minute speech
yesterday. He spoke about his presidency and some of the achievements
that were made while he was in office. “You know how many websites there
were when I took the oath of office? Fifty! Now there are over a
billion websites and several more are being created every minute”. He
challenged the people in the audience to think deeply about the future:
“you have to decide what you want the world to look like when your
children are sitting in your seat…it’s a terrible burden when you know
you can do something, because you gotta do it…when we think we know it
all, we’re on our way to ruin…Thomas Jefferson spoke about each
individual being endowed with the inalienable rights of life, liberty
and a pursuit of happiness; what matters is the pursuit of happiness,
that’s where the joy is! Working hard to see that the world is a better
place brings happiness, and then you wouldn’t even see it as work!”
“Tell them, Bill. Tell them! You need to tell this to the despots
who populate Aso Rock; let them know that they need to stop dancing
around the issues of social justice and economic development and get
busy with rebuilding the country. How long are we going to wait for them
to get their act together?” Wait a minute; Bill wasn’t really talking
about politicians, was he? He was encouraging young people to be agents
of change across the world and break through the glass ceiling of
incompetence and discouragement. “Well, well, we’ve heard that all our
lives. Why does the older generation continue to motivate the younger
generation to seek ways of cleaning their mess? Why couldn’t they just
clean up after themselves so that we can get our creative juices flowing
without having to worry about undoing some of the damage they have
created?”
“We will be arriving Syracuse in about 15 minutes, you can expect
beautiful weather this evening…” the air hostess’ voice punctuates my
inner musings.
“I guess I have to bring my thoughts to a close then,
what’s the way forward? Nigerians are intensely frustrated with the
direction of the country, and rightly so. What kind of people would we
be if we have endured so much hardship and found no avenues to channel
our grievances? Of course, we have to protest and protest loudly, but
then what? What really is the way forward? Young people are fleeing the
country to get degrees in Ghana, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia; parents are
retiring to the Caribbean islands, some to obscure spaces as far away as
Bahrain; working professionals are seeking to extend their careers
abroad and stave off the day when they have to return home; in short,
everyone is running away from Nigeria. But what about those who are
unable to leave the country? Is there really a way forward for us?”
“Please fasten your seat belts; we’re encountering a little
turbulence….” I hear the captain’s voice this time. The plane shakes
uncontrollably for a couple of minutes and everywhere around me, people
are clutching their seats tightly and making frantic prayers under their
breaths, while trying to appear calm. No one wants to be seen as a
sissy, though their heart rates have just tripled. I smile lightly and
wave at the little kid seated across from me. “This is not the worst
turbulence I’ve ever experienced”, I tell myself.
“We would be landing shortly, please turn off all electronic devices
and stow them away safely and ensure that your seat is in the upright
position…”
People are still quietly praying for a safe landing, so I join in
prayer. I whisper a couple of words to God for direction as I seek to
understand my place in helping to rebuild Nigeria; “I really want to be
involved in changing my country, so God please show me what you would
have me do”.
“Sir, please turn your laptop off, we’re close to landing…”
“Alright”
A strange thought crosses my mind; “what if we never land?” Well, my
friends and family know that I’m committed to seeking a better world and
that I love all things good. They know that I love to work hard and
encourage people to reach inwards for their true selves and above all,
to stay dedicated to their values and never lose sight of what’s
important. They’ll always retain positive thoughts of me. Wait a minute,
am I crafting my final thoughts? No way, we’re surely going to land.
This plane is going to land in a few minutes; I need to power my laptop
off and prepare for landing. I’m going home tonight. I have to get back
to work tomorrow. When I get home, I’ll continue to think about the
words of Bill Clinton and I’m sure I’ll think of a way to help Nigeria
find her foot again. I am a change agent. For now I have to console
myself with the thought that slowly but surely, we will rise again. I
know we will.
You can follow Faith Abiodun on Twitter @FaithAbiodun
No comments:
Post a Comment