When Victimism fails, what’s next?
I found the image used for this article on Facebook. It was a meme that someone shared, and it got me really laughing and thinking at the same time. It’s one of those random things you find online, so I’m not even sure who created the meme. But it made a whole lot of sense to me.
Even though I don’t drink alcohol, I used the image for one of my social media profiles, so someone out there might actually think I must be a drunk. But that’s fine.
My first thought on seeing the image was, how often do we excuse ourselves from taking responsibility for our lives while telling ourselves that things are the way they are because someone or something else made it so? And come to think of it, even if our lives are the way they are because of our wrong choices and bad decisions, what’s wrong with owning our reality and then making adjustments where needed, especially if we think our outer reality doesn’t match the truth of our inner reality. It’s a fool who does not change his mind when there is need and proof to do so.
My second thought was, does refusing to take responsibility for our behaviors or choices make the consequences of those behaviors and choices go away? It doesn’t. I believe the opposite is true. But this is how many Africans think.
Now, these are just my thoughts, so I am not seeking answers as it were. But, I do think there is a whole lot that we have lost in Africa and are still losing because not many Africans are taking responsibility for the growth and goodness of Africa. I just think we have left too many things to chance, unattended, using excuses of being victims of some systemic agendas (which by the way are real) instead of coming together to find a workable way around the limitations.
I think one of the many ways of raising the human mind from a low consciousness to a higher one is to teach people how to master the art of taking responsibility and being disciplined enough to walk the path that takes them towards a new direction of higher consciousness.
What now?
So, the Grinch believes he is a victim of the beer’s addiction to him, and not that he is an addict because he loves to drink beer. It’s clear that the mug of beer is not the one holding his fingers but the other way round. But this is how many Africans view themselves in relation to their circumstances. They are never the reason for their misfortune, especially the religious ones who love to blame the devil and the witches in their village. But we really need to wake up and raise our conscience and consciousness. We need to elevate our minds from being involved in stupid and corrupt practices that undermine our growth. We need to wake up to raising godly children who will hold dear the true values of Africa without compromise. We cannot be calling the government corrupt when we feed fat from the allocations meant for our community projects. We must look in the mirror of our conscience and tell ourselves the truth of where we have been getting things wrong, and then go ahead and correct them.
Let’s stop relating to life like the Grinch and his addiction to a mug of beer.
