Since life is not static, it keeps on moving. As the world rotates, people there in also move and experience changes in atmospheric, scientific and technological advancement and aging as well as death. As long as we have life, we are bound to move. If we are not ready to move the times, seasons and events shall move or bypass us. Life is like a river current that has the potential to move you in as much as you are in it. For example, dead fishes are moved by the river current and tides while life’s fishes swim against the current. Movements as a result could be spontaneous or prepared which involves element of planning. We learnt from management experts “If we fail to plan we plan to fail”. The basic fundamental of effective planning is to know our geographical entity and our point of destination. Most places we have passed through in life guide our future decisions and actions. That as a result buttresses the saying that” experience is the best teacher”. Biblically Hagar, who was Sarah’s maid, was confronted with similar questions: where are you coming from and where are you going? (Genesis 16:8). Many of us in our daily chaos need to pause and ask ourselves these crucial questions.
Does it surprise you that most of us living in advanced countries of the world have forgotten where we came from and how the place looked like when we left? We have forgotten that to ensure there was a light at the end of tunnel our parents sacrificed their comfort, sent us to acquire education in foreign lands. In some cases, it was hard to cough out funds for our education in a foreign land, but they sold and pledged their valuables and belongings to in order for us to have a quality education and provide our needs. It cost them their most cherish family lands and inheritance to see us through our present state. Our future enlightenment and wellbeing are the opportunity cost of our parent’s leisure. Yet in our various fronts we observe behaviors and utterances that suggest that some do not know who they are and their origin. In some families, some parents still wonder if they took the right decision sending their offspring abroad. Funny enough these folks had long completed their studies but have not returned. We could ask a couple of questions: what’s holding them up there? Could they have forgotten the purpose of being sent abroad? They could have several reasons; some not of their making, why they are stocked there?
“Yet we live life forward but appreciate and learn from it backward.” Again Joe Lewis opined, ‘we live life once, but if we plan it right once is good enough.’ In the developed cites of the world where we live, there is constant power supply, uninterrupted telephone services, and modern telecommunication technology; the transportation system is modern and roads built to taste and last. Could we’ve forgotten that our roads back home are dilapidated and transport system is wasted? It is now a dead trap to either broad aircraft or even travel by roads in ‘Obodo’. Roads are not motorable, yet we have a government. The third world has become a dumping ground for unwanted old and unusable appliances- cars, trucks, airplanes etc. Could we’ve forgotten that the schools we attended are still ill equipped and the buildings in serious state of dilapidation. Many colleges neither have computer equipments nor do telephone services; if at all, have epileptic power services. Our healthcare system is in a state of dilemma. Hospitals/clinics run without medication or adequate/qualified staffs. At this age of technological development, we are disadvantaged yet live in denial. There are neither good maintenance nor serviced. The consequences are the unimaginable lost of innocent lives. Yet by “kick forward” these equipments are certified technically good. When shall our public officers have value for the lives of their citizens? When shall our leaders reciprocate the love of those who voted them into power? The Bible was right when it implied that the love of money (beyond God, human lives) is the root of evil. We appear to love more money than human lives.
Funny enough, we have many associations in the advanced cities of the world but lack a healthy, viable, community. It’s high time we appraised our thoughts and actions; ask ourselves: Are we are getting what we want? Are we making proper advances in the right direction? If we continue to do the same thing, the same way we obtain the same result. We need a change in our thinking, perception, appreciation and actions. It’s this change that brings new phase into our lives.
We must begin to see ourselves as being part of our home communities. Enough of blaming someone or some people. Those who live abroad do so for the collective interest and wellbeing of those living at home; while those at home do so for the collective interest of those living outside. Yet some people outside misconstrue living at home with idleness. The frank truth is that all the people in our communities cannot live outside their origin. If they do, then the communities at home would be wasted; no one walks along the roads and there shall turn into bushes. The community activities such as: marriages, birth celebrations, funerals and Church activities as well as meetings would die naturally. Those at home perform more vital functions to the benefit of those that are both at home and abroad. We need to appreciate their immense contributions. Those living outside would have no where to return to without activities of those living at home. Do not forget some of these people like us lived their youthful lives outside of their communities and returned home on retirement[but not tired] to rejoin with their brethren and become our home front in pursuit of collective progress as well as keeping peace and orderliness. Most are educated, intelligent and experienced: some of them taught us as teachers and are still enlightened. We must be careful how we speak of these noble men and women whose contributions to our communities are recorded in gold.
We must remember that whatever we do for the community that owned and raised us is not wasted. Our individual efforts are good and commendable but have not achieved collective progress and not able to solve the massive problem at hand- rudimental problem of infrastructures. By collective efforts, we can work together, appraised our past activities, set new goals/term plans [5-10years, 10-20years, 20-30 years] and ensure that they are completed without being overbearing. The problem most Unions have is that each incoming executive work to satisfy their tenure. They set goals to make individual term achievement than the union long term goals. Most times the association long term goal is abandoned. Again associations abroad must learn to work with the home front. We would be able to take leadership role if we are focus and determined. But when most meetings end in disagreement, it brings disarray among the crowd. We should be in collaboration with home front, support or even sponsor candidates to higher court for proper representation and etc. We would then have representatives in government who would help push our demands especially as it concern social amenities that needs government intervention or leading. Those abroad should be concerned with what to do to return or support home to better our communities. Our men folks should lead our children home as well as our wives; many are neither favoring nor willing to return to male dominated environment after enjoying ‘new- found- freedom’ abroad.
Every great city in the world was built by people not ghost; people who were conscious of where they came from and where they were going. They are people who did not forget who they were in the world crowd; people who spoke and believed that every where in the world, home is the best. They are people who believed that they could make impart, I mean a difference in their generation and leave history to vindicate them. These people had great passion and love for who they are. Even though like some of us they became citizens of their countries of residence and enjoyed the rich culture and quality life there but did not forget their place of origin. They knew to liberate the world they must first liberate themselves and their community. Some of us in this age are already doing something to improve the quality of human life in our world. I therefore enjoin those sitting on the fence to be part of the struggle to liberate and improve humanity. It must start in our Jerusalem. Once again individual efforts are commendable but collective progress is our goal.