Building the Nation

It's Friday night. I sit down to write ( still a challenge, but I will continue to persevere till it becomes an habit ), but nothing is on my mind. Hmmmm. !!! That is odd. How can there be nothing to write about? What happened during the week?

Pals, I did not struggle to remember.

This week, I was bemused by one of the many events currently happening in my home country, Nigeria. The event saddened me.

Labor and trade union leaders are bargaining for a new minimum wage. The fight is dirty. I will not bore you with the details, but this is my summary:

Leaders are okay with paying themselves humongous salaries and benefits but insist on paying the workers ( who generate the revenue ) peanuts. My mind drifts back to my secondary school days. I am reminded of a poem my literature teacher introduced to me in junior secondary school.

I immediately fell in love with it. The poem is " Building the Nation " by Henry Balow. I love the ending: ( My interpretation ) Two nation builders returned home with stomach pains.

However, their pains were caused by different reasons.

The poem is self-explanatory, and I have attached the poem to the ending of this reflection. The peom would even make more sense when you realize that Henry Balow is from Uganda. Africa has been plagued with a leadership crisis for a long time. And my prayer every day is that true and selfless leaders will be awakened to attend to the decaying sight.

That you are in a leadership position, and you have the power to set your own salary does not mean you can take it to levels that are detrimental to the people you are serving.

Paul, in many parts of his letters evidently expressed his concern as a leader not to over-burden his followers for his needs. That is true leadership.

1 Thes 2:9

Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.

2nd Thes 3:7-10

For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

I love 2nd Thes 3:9. Paul emphasized that his choice was not because he did not have the right to demand for it, but it clearly would be a burden. In Nigeria, the leaders do not care. It is: let the "leaders" first be fed.

We are all building the nation. However, We are building it in different ways

Enjoy the poem. Building the Nation Henry Barlow (Uganda)

Today, I did my share

In building the nation.

I drove a Permanent Secretary

To an important, urgent function

In fact, to a luncheon at the Vic.

The menu reflected its importance

Cold bell beer with small talk,

Then fried chicken with niceties

Wine to fill the hollowness of the laughs

Ice-cream to cover the stereotype jokes

Coffee to keep the PS awake on the return journey.

I drove the Permanent Secretary back.

He yawned many times in back of the car

Then to keep awake, he suddenly asked,

Did you have any lunch friend?

I replied looking straight ahead

And secretly smiling at his belated concern

That I had not, but was slimming!

Upon which he said with a seriousness

That amused more than annoyed me,

Mwananchi, I too had none!

I attended to matters of state.

Highly delicate diplomatic duties you know,

And friend, it goes against my grain,

Causes me stomach ulcers and wind.

Ah, he continued, yawning again,

The pains we suffer in building the nation!

So the PS had ulcers too!

My ulcers I think are equally painful

Only they are caused by hunger,

Not sumptuous lunches!

So two nation builders

Arrived home this evening

With terrible stomach pains

The result of building the nation -

- Different ways.

@Farayola Praise: Farayola Praise is an analog design engineer who is trying to grow once again his once-loved passion for writing. When he is not designing integrated circuits (Chips), he is either writing codes (python), designing graphics, or spending time with God and Family. He is blessed with a lovely wife and a wonderful daughter. (farayolapraise@gmail.com) (6/14/2024)