You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
The Late Desmond William Ocloo said this but when Johnson told me this, I didn’t really understand this until today. Indeed Ocloo died because of love for humanity, his people, and the Shai-Osudoku people.
To me, this is a beautiful quote and it really reminds us, the people of Shai-Osudoku to stay focused on the good of humanity, as it far outweighs all the terrible things humans have done. Though, Ocloo suffered from politics of ethnicity right from day one till his death, he did everything possible to bring his people together, though some refused to heed the call for calm until his demise.
Today, his opponents are the very people calling for what they term ‘Peace’
The quote compares the entirety of humanity to the enormity of the ocean. As a few drops of dirty water has no measurable impact on the cleanliness of the ocean, neither does a few bad people taint the entirety of humanity.
Yes, it’s easy to be upset if you have been wronged, and you can easily lose faith in humanity. However, if you can keep a sense of perception, if you can remember that the good outnumber the evil, you can start to feel better about yourself and humanity, this was what his opponents should have thought about for the betterment of the constituency, but now it is too late and I fear for those who do not hail from Shai and they are in the party. They practically have no place in the party in the constituency because suppose Ocloo won, was able to become an MP, it would have paved the way for others who are not indeges but now it is all over, I don’t think non -indegenes can contest and win an election in the constituency.
Until humanity can manage to move to the next level, we will continue to have people who are not exactly the kindest or nicest, right? But how we view our fellow men is our choice. If we chose to focus on the bad, we will greet each other with suspicion. If we focus on the good, we will greet each other as friends.
Why is focusing on the good important?
We must first, realize this isn’t a ‘rose colored glasses’ scenario. There are wolves out there. There are bad people who will do bad things. We must be cautious and prepared. However, we must also be willing to give others a chance. This was what the NDC members should have thought about in the constituency but they neglected it because about 90% of what we think about, we don’t even think of it before doing it or considering the future implications, we consider our stomach and what we will get first. So before you consider your mum to be a witch, or call your husband /wife a bad person, you must look at yourself first.
If we can focus mainly on the good that people do, we would have covered most of the way. However, the newspapers, the TV, and the radio tend to focus on the bad things that people do. That can eat into our trust and make the ocean look far dirtier than it truly is.
Some people are oil slicks, but even in the ocean; even the biggest oil slicks are tiny compared to the vastness of the ocean. That’s not a good reason to dump oil in the ocean, but the analogy holds for people. Even if you put a bunch of bad apples in one place (perhaps massive corruption or gangs), it’s still just a drop or two in the ocean.
We will see what we look for. If we look for bad people, we will see every little thing, and our faith in humanity will be shaken. Make sure you keep a little perception when you are consuming news, and remember to focus on the good parts, not just the bad.
For now, Wisdom Agbeve calling for peace is untimely and the people don’t need peace as they are aggrieved judging from what transpired. Even if we try now to negotiate for peace, some will pretend to be okay. You see, Wisdom, While you see with the eyes of a victim, everyone will appear to be at least part of a wolf. That may have sounded a bit ominous, but we’ve all been wronged by others, the only difference is the severity and how much time has passed since the last incident (or most severe incident). The healing of oneself is a crucial step, and one we should all attend to at some point. And no, ‘forgetting’ it isn’t healing, right?
Healing won’t be instant, and there is no need to wait for healing to be complete before we begin to focus on what we focus on, right? Consider what you might have for prejudices (or pre-judgements) of others. Is there a certain style of clothes that immediately cause you concern? Now, this is death, we can’t reverse it.
You may be wondering if I am not interested in negotiating for peace. That’s a tricky question, as there are times when that is a valid sign of danger. However, it is the clothing in conjunction with other clues that should signal danger, the clothes alone should not. It can be kind of tricky, but it goes back to focus and the clean water compared to the drops of dirty water.
Where else in your life do you have a tendency to pre-judge others, to believe the worst instead of the best? Yes, you’ll get burned a few more times if you treat them kindly. But what is the alternative? Do you really want to live the rest of your life suspecting everyone of being the dirty drops polluting the ocean?
Now , if you want peace, your deeds, writings on facebook don’t prove that! For instance, some seeking for peace should be cautious on what you say or write.
For instance, you wrote and it is unedited.
“Comrades it’s sad the way the youth are reacting in the aftermath of the recent NDC parliamentary primary and d subsequent sudden demise of the eventual winner. I am amazed at the attitude of friends and classmates who hd a different choice. The hostility and false accusations are immature. Does dat mean we cnt do politics in our constituency? Why shld it result in drawing a line between brothers, friends and classmates? I am really ashamed n disgusted abt d primitive attitude d so call lovers of our late parliamentary candidate r putting up. I call for calm, peace n harmony. We are for ever one ppl n we cnt invest our future in creating enemies. Pls let’s cease fire n smoke a peace pipe. Bcos if we nt careful n it degenerate into something else, we hv ourselves to blame. Remember dere is a local saying dat if an animal will bite you, it will be frm ur own clothes”.
Now , my problem is where you said
“I am really ashamed n disgusted abt d primitive attitude d so call lovers of our late parliamentary candidate r putting up. I call for calm, peace n harmony”.
Agbeve, who are the so called lovers? And which one is more primitive?
Who are his inside enemies as you said? Is it not the NDC party; are you also not part of the NDC? So are you also from his own clothes?
Is it people fighting for their loved one or the campaign you did that was based on ethnicity? Wisdom, your name itself said everything, wise!
You see, I entreat you rather to seek for love and not peace, because love conquers everything. If there is love, there is peace, but there can be peace without love and that is more dangerous for humanity as the people can pretend to be so.
Let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His
love is perfected in us.
Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word.” We can no longer afford to worship the God of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. Love is the key to the solution of the problems of the world.
Wisdom, what the people need in Dodowa is love and not peace. The bible said, love your Neighbour as yourself! If the people in Dodowa will embrace love then everything is seized.
“How can I make difference so that I may bring peace to this world that I love and cherish so much? A name flickers instantly in my mind.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi inspired the world with his faith in truth and justice for all Mankind. He was a great soul who loved even those who fought against his ideals to bring about peace with non-violence.
The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.
Every man lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live. Our problem today is that we have allowed the internal to become lost in the external. We have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live.
“To love those that love you is easy. To love those that love you not is not so simple. If you want to change anyone, set a better example. Show more kindness, more understanding, more love. That has a sure effect. To those who are not kind, show kindness. To those who are mean, show bigness of heart.” – Yogananda
“Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself- if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself- it is very difficult to take care of another person. In the Buddhist teaching, it’s clear that to love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people. Love is a practice. Love is truly a practice.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
The reason why peace cannot calm the youth down now is because of the nature of the people and other factors right now –and the perceived mind the people have in effect today, and they have made significant and important strides towards solving the Shai NDC ailments. But, no matter how much more work achieved we achieve for peace; I fear that the ailments will still exist. There will still be problems. Remove a corrupt leading group, and another one springs up in its place. Lift up a third-world country from poverty, and another one falls back into it. Save a species from being hunted, and the hunters find another species to kill.
But there’s another, bigger reason. The other reason why peace at this stage is isn’t possible, is because the leaders, the youth including yourself, and the people themselves need to change themselves first in the way they go about doing politics because this is the defining element of change – change begins within.
Politics is not about slogan likewise leadership is not a calling; it is a way of life, like culture. So you can decide to be a good leader or not. Politics is not about birthright, politics is like finding cure for cancer. It is not luxury; it is a human need that is why no one should use this need to profit his or her own selfish interest. It is a pity to see people die out of this need!
Ocloo died because of love. So seek for love first and peace follows, I end with this philosophy “the future you picture is the future you will feature, the ‘YOU’ you see is the ‘YOU’ you will become. Therefore picture a great future to feature and desire a great ‘YOU’ to become and the almighty God will see to it that you have featured in the future you have pictured and have become the YOU” you have desired”
Love live Shai-Osudoku
#Ocloo died because of Love#
Source: Raphael Nyarkotey Obu
