Lord, everybody thinks somebody should do it, but nobody would find anybody

Dear Father:
You know, it is very interesting how the story about my deeply forested village evolves day in and day out. This one that na joke it be serious matter, my bid sister will say. So the grammar will be inside plenty.

But come to think of it Father, I find it quite interesting how my village people, my fellow compatriots as the book people will put it try to shift the responsibility looking for a scapegoat all the time.

You know, it’s like people who always try to blame one or two family members for their current conditions. One would say it’s like the man at the Pool of Bethesda who had been lying there for some good 35 years. When Jesus asked him why he had been there that long, his first excuse was because I have no man to put me there when the Angel stirred the waters.

Now imagine how long he had comforted himself with that excuse probably telling everyone who asks him year in and year on or friends who left him there and come to visit. I believe without doubt and in all sincerity somebody may have helped to take him by the Pool and instead of dragging himself to fall in the pool, he still depended on someone to help him out-This is the story of my village Father.

Tell me more my son!
You see, make no mistake, I am one person who believe that everyman’s destiny is in his hands, regardless because God will not do for you what you should do for yourself. And therefore, I don’t blame anyone for my failure to succeed in life.

In fact, I am one person who believe that if my parents or any family member of mine had helped me to reach high school or finish high school or even stop to junior high, I believe the rest is my responsibility. I don’t blame them for being unable to pay my fees throughout to high school and college if they can’t afford it anymore-that is not an abandonment that is called unable to continue because of circumstances beyond that person’s own control-And that is called life.

Now how does this relate to the story of my village? Don’t get me wrong by privilege I have become a frequent flyer and on these trips it’s very common to be on the same flight with someone from my village. However, there is one topic that keeps resonating on every trip that I have had the privilege to have my fellow compatriots and that subject has to do with our village backwardness. Our village continues to retrogress by the year, at least since December 1989 or some would say since 1980, depending on your knowledge of events.

And this story about our village deteriorating at a high speed into backwardness resonates louder when you are in one of our neighboring villages, for example Charlie Land. Now, don’t get me twisted. Our village have had the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of leadership. But that doesn’t mean all is lost.

I often hear people say “the people don’t care. They just after themselves and look at how this place and that place is. The truth is Father, everybody thinks it’s somebody’s responsibility, so nobody wants to tell anybody that we are all responsible for this village’s backwardness.

When you think that your present situation or condition is not your own making but somebody else’s, you are in for a lot of troubles.
One of my lecturer often say people of this village are always in denial, they never face the reality that one way or the other we have a problem and the best way to first solve any problem is to accept the fact that you have a problem.

No matter how much we criticize past regimes for their failures, we have always been presented with the opportunity to choose new breed of leaders and so there is always an opportunity to continue from where those we considered failed leaders have stop us.

Two things: we either continue to complain about the past and think it’s somebody’s responsibility but nobody wants to admit that anybody can do it, we will remain in this state until Jesus’ return. Or we can stop the complaining and say ok, they failed us but at least they left us with an opportunity to make the difference and when we think like that and stop complaining about the past failures, we can change our story.

Trust me Father, I have not heard or seen anybody who blames everybody or somebody for his or her current predicament have their story change just by that. In fact sooner or later nobody would want to listen to you anymore, they will rather start to blame you for your one failure which is true.

Trust me Father, I believe if we want to see our village progress, each of us should have this consciousness of “what can I do to help change my neighborhood” and if everybody has this kind of mentality rather than thinking it’s somebody’s responsibility, we will be amazed how quickly we will rise to the top and change our village story. To be continued