Opinion / Columnist
'Africa must learn fast!' Must take hard look in the mirror admit reality and not what wish to see
11 Sep 2023 at 15:05hrs | Views
"Africa must learn Fast..
You should not wait forever. Japan learned from the west during the Meiji restoration. China sent her engineers to the west after the death of Mao. Singapore learned from the west. India was colonised by the west but learned technology and kept culture and religion.
We were colonised but kept religion but not technology. China and Korea were brutalised by Japan, they dusted themselves and moved on. We are whining, and want self pity. Why is it that everywhere we are at the bottom. Why is it that we are the only race that was enslaved?"
One of the key requirement for progress has to be the willingness and ability to look oneself in the mirror and give an honest assessment of what one sees. The next step is just as important but not as tough: to build on one's strengths and mitigate on one's weaknesses. As a people our default setting to pretend to be whom we want to be and even if that is wishful thinking to hide our shortcomings.
This fault of pretending to be someone else is particularly dangerous for those in positions of power and authority because they will surround themselves with flatterers their failing will be amplified and allowed to grow and spread with tragic consequences.
In Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies have completely destroyed the nation's once promising economy through mismanagement and corruption. The regime has been blaming sanctions for all the nation's ills, a convenient scapegoat, allowing the real causes of the economic problems to grow and spread to the point they are are now killing the economy.
The call above is important in that it is forcing us to take a long hard look in the mirror and introspect!
"The unexamined life is not worth living" is a famous dictum supposedly uttered by Socrates at his trial for impiety and corrupting youth, for which he was subsequently sentenced to death.
What better place to start than by examining one's own life!
You should not wait forever. Japan learned from the west during the Meiji restoration. China sent her engineers to the west after the death of Mao. Singapore learned from the west. India was colonised by the west but learned technology and kept culture and religion.
We were colonised but kept religion but not technology. China and Korea were brutalised by Japan, they dusted themselves and moved on. We are whining, and want self pity. Why is it that everywhere we are at the bottom. Why is it that we are the only race that was enslaved?"
One of the key requirement for progress has to be the willingness and ability to look oneself in the mirror and give an honest assessment of what one sees. The next step is just as important but not as tough: to build on one's strengths and mitigate on one's weaknesses. As a people our default setting to pretend to be whom we want to be and even if that is wishful thinking to hide our shortcomings.
This fault of pretending to be someone else is particularly dangerous for those in positions of power and authority because they will surround themselves with flatterers their failing will be amplified and allowed to grow and spread with tragic consequences.
The call above is important in that it is forcing us to take a long hard look in the mirror and introspect!
"The unexamined life is not worth living" is a famous dictum supposedly uttered by Socrates at his trial for impiety and corrupting youth, for which he was subsequently sentenced to death.
What better place to start than by examining one's own life!
Source - zimbabwelight.blogspot.com
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