I remember an old but hilarious Eddie Murphy movie called “Trading Places”. I won’t bore you with the finer details of the movie but it’ll suffice to say Eddie Murphy played a street smart petty thief who two wealthy but callous old men literally picked off the street. They went ahead to switch the fortune of this down and out criminal with that of their top employee, a disagreeable, snobbish but highly successful investor and placed a negligible, childish wager on the outcome. That was the value they placed on the two lives they heartlessly decided to play with.
The issue that concerns us here though is not that. It’s the fact that as Eddie Murphy’s character was being told while standing in his New York luxury apartment for the first time, that everything he sees there is effectively now his, he couldn’t stop himself from pilfering every item that took his fancy, when he thought no-one was watching and filling his pockets with them. And this he did with the trademark Eddie Murphy ear to ear guilty grin etched on his face. Yes, they were informing him all was now his but just in case, he wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip. He must take all he can, while he can. Poverty mentality.
If we know what’s good for us, we must as a matter of urgency check our leaning towards a poverty mentality. The way motorists switch from one lane to another as soon as they notice one lane appears to move an inch or two faster than the one they are on, to me is indicative of a poverty mentality. Just as the way we make a dart to the exit door as soon as the plane lands as if, if we don’t do it now, we may never make it out. Truth is, despite the deceptive terminology, this progress hindering mentality is not an exclusive preserve of the poor.
Many well-heeled individuals have been fatally struck by this ailment too. No matter how much they have, it never seems to be enough. There’s little difference between them and the motorist who feels he has to be at the very front at all times; seeing others ahead of him just makes him mad; he feels he must be losing somehow. How? I really don’t know. All I know is that he must always feel like he’s winning. I guessed it’s similar to feeling you’ve been “chanced”. So he must do whatever it takes to get ahead as the end certainly justifies the means. To such people, all is fair in love and war; underhand tactics are allowed. Sportsmanship? What’s that? The name of the game is to grab whatever you can, as much as you can, every time you can. And you must do this any time such opportunity arises because if you don’t, you’ll feel you’re missing something; you must definitely be losing out to others in one way or the other.
Recently the Real Madrid team, including the players and coach, were given gifts by one of their sponsors, Audi, as is customary for them to do this time of the year. Each player and their legendary coach, Zidane, were asked to pick any Audi model of his choice. Ramos, the captain wasted no time in choosing the top of the range, the Audi A8 Quattro. What came as a surprise to me however is that Zidane and if memory serves me well, two of the players, Benzema, being one, chose the cheapest and smallest model. My reaction to this as a typical Naija man confirmed I’m in trouble. Chai! Naija has finally got me too; I just couldn’t understand why someone given a blank cheque wouldn’t go all the way! I’m not ashamed to admit that I was bewildered. Was I missing something?
After ruminating over it for a while I finally came to the conclusion that these people could afford to buy as many of these wonders on wheels as their hearts desire and since they very likely have several top end vehicles already, they just decided to pick the one they feel they need now. “Need” being the operative word. They feel no urge to grab it all just because they can. There’s no sense of loss because they didn’t “make the most” of the opportunity. They won’t wake up tomorrow to feel Ramos somehow “chanced” them. How I wish our typical politician and even the average Nigerian could take a cue from this. No matter how much they grab and stash away it’s never enough. Classic poverty mentality. It’s all about want, want and want some more; leaving those with genuine needs with nothing. A wise man once said, “The earth has enough resources to meet the needs of all but not enough to satisfy the greed of even one person”. Woe to the nation saddled with people of such character in leadership.
No matter how bleak things currently look in our dear country and how everywhere we look, wrong appears to have been normalised, we should not get weary of talking to our children. Words spoken now will by prayer take root now and because of this, they will also fly way ahead into their future, awaiting their arrival at that imminent moment when they’ll need to exercise the freedom of making choices on their own; choices that could make or mar their lives. At that moment, your earlier admonition may just be the only thing potent enough to steer them in the right direction. Like Theodore Zeldin once said, “conversations change the way we see the world and do indeed change the world”. It’s all about perception embedded in one’s mind-set.
A mind-set of contentment will produce an entirely different result. An individual who sees himself as a team player who shares the same goals as everyone else will do same. And like these two, a mind trained to focus on the big picture will not portray such small mindedness which only sees lack, inadequacies and a constant need to “secure” his position. He will cede the chance of momentary gain in favour of the more enduring benefit of thinking pro social. That’s why you should never underestimate just how much your training, admonition and discipline can determine what and even more importantly, who your child will become. And so the world changes.
In closing, a man walked upon this earth just over two thousand years ago who in a short span of barely thirty three years introduced an entirely different way of thinking which changed the world forever. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ today, I wish my fellow Christians a truly Merry Christmas.
Changing the nation…one mind at a time.
DAPO AKANDE
