Wasting life on minor things

By The Standard | Mar. 6, 2014

THERE are many snares in life generally, but I realise that one huge snare in our African communities is majoring on minor issues of life.

Worse still some of the minor issues are no issues at all and are a serious thief of time and proper thinking. Millions of our people in Africa invest their lives in such issues and it is these issues that are responsible for the unacceptable levels of poverty and divisions in Africa. Let us just look at three today as a start.

Gossiping: Did you know that many people — male and female, old and young, learned and unlearned — will spend many hours sitting in pubs, shops, under trees, and in offices gossiping about people who seem to be making it in life? They talk about this one and that one and share whatever secret they claim to know about everyone and all their efforts just end as gossip.

Gossipers seem to know more about others and less about themselves. Gossiping is not only a time waster, it is violence and murder.

It makes people form in them destructive attitudes towards others and creates a lot of hypocrisy in life.

How do you build life on such a foolish base or foundation?

You should be bettering your life, but you have wasted so much of your precious time gossiping and slandering people for nothing.

At the end of the day gossipers are the losers. This is one human engagement that does not benefit anyone. So why waste time on it.

Jealousy: Some of us are very jealous about everything others are doing. We sit down and do nothing, but waste our emotions and time envying others and spreading lies about them because we are jealous of their progress in life.

Life in Africa is about pulling others down. This is a fruit of a spirit or culture of jealousy. It leads to witchcraft and murder. In Africa very few people will celebrate another person’s success.

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If you try and succeed in your community you become the target of witchcraft or you are labelled corrupt.

We do not believe in success in our cultures. We believe that anyone who succeeds is corrupt or has done something wrong. We pull each other down.

This kind of thinking and action is a serious trap and we need to help one another grow out of it. Stand up and work. Stand up and think and engage. Do not sit back and wait to pull others down.

The pull-him-down syndrome is a cancer in many communities in our beloved continent.

Show-off: I would have called this pride, but I think it is the lowest and at least redeemable stage of pride. Most people are caught up in this spirit which ends up in pain.

They like showing off with whatever little “success” that comes their way. They think of themselves more than they ought to and want everyone to know and see they got a bicycle. See how they carry themselves at the shops.

See how they will mount their radio outside the house and play their music loudest. They do not care whether neighbours have their radios or not.

I have seen some getting beaten up or even killed because of this annoying behaviour. Showing off is for people who are not serious with life. It is for people who do not know what life is all about. Life is not all about you. No. Life is more important than this selfish mentality or approach.

Beloved life is about humility and others. Life is about others more. How others feel in your presence is more important than how you feel.

We are each other’s keepers beloved. We exist for each other and our duty is to make sure the welfare of others.

Gossiping, jealousy, showing-off and many others undesirable traits.

This is the reason why people will celebrate your downfall. I have noticed that in our communities, whether you are proud or not, if you are successful, many people are always looking forward to your downfall.

We do not desire good for others, but we desire evil and wrong and misfortunes for others. This cannot be a way of life.

This is not how to live as a people. Our role is to celebrate one another in our communities. Our role is to praise one another and inspire each other towards accomplishment.

These attitudes destroy the necessary unity in our communities and make everyone vulnerable and promote selfishness. Do you want to enjoy life in this life more than you think you are doing now? Here are three basic things to do: