The Failures of the Past Generations in Bringing About the Problems with Nigeria
Parents and other do-gooders love to assault us to “do the right thing”, “grow up”, “be good”, “be moral” etc. Their intensions were always good. But those words were, and still, mere words without any substance or real significance.
Virtually all children came off parenting unable to practice what was preached to them. They are, at best, a poor copy of the good moralistic and competent selves of their parents; at least, so it seems.
This is the only credible reason why the previous generation seemed better, more moral etc. than the succeeding generation. The older generation was unable to transmit the lessons of their progenitors to their own progeny. They lacked an effective means of codifying and translating such lessons they were raised with, albeit poorly, to their own succeeding generation.
This is why I immediately inform anyone who jumped in the bandwagon of “yesteryear was golden and we all live delirious in castles that dangle from heaven” that it was the failures of the past generation that result in the difficulties we currently experience.
The Problem of the Lack of Codified and Embracive Moral cum Responsibility System
In the Part One of this blog, “The real problem with Nigeria”, I stressed that the sovereign individual must adhere to personal and social responsibilities in order to:
1) create a great and happy life for themselves, as this is the sure way to:
2) keep their government under their control.
I am sure some of my readers would sneer at this, and ask, “So, what’s responsibility, and how do one assume and command it?”
The problem of having a codified, understandable, and applicable injunctions that empower one to assume and command responsibility is not local, Nigerian, or African, but a problem that all human society share in inglorious common.
There is hardly society on the planet, including the Chinese and their fascinating Confucian culture and system of personal, family, social, and national administration, that have a simple, sane, concise, effective, all-embracing, and human-universal code of responsibility for the regulation of personal, family, and social conduct – none!
We have some good injunctions in some religious scriptures, but these are not wholesome, simple, and all-embracing.
Some of our traditional cultures contain some good injunctions as well, but, again, none of them are codified and made understandable enough and acceptable for general usage and dissemination.
What Responsibility is NOT
Alright, before we get too far ahead of our topic, let’s define what I mean by responsibility.
The responsibility I speak of is not blame, you know? Like you’re responsible for the fire outbreak and must be punished. No.
I am also not talking about responsibility as the duty or obligation that one has, you know? Like washing the car is my responsibility. No.
Responsibility Defined
The responsibility I speak of is “the willing acceptance of the individual person to be cause, to be the one who brought a condition or situation or thing into existence”.
How the Sovereign Individual Becomes a Slave
See? This has nothing to do with blame, punishment, etc. But it also has everything to do with blame. Where we blame another person or entity for whatever reason, the person or entity assumes a superior beingness over us.
When we pass on blame to another, we are simply saying, inadvertently, that the person or entity we blame is superior to us, is more powerful than we are, is more intelligent, and is a creator while we are the effect of his, her, or its creations.
So, you blame the ‘government’ or ‘president’ for “the poor state of security…”
What results?
The government assumes a more dominating and domineering role over your life, well beyond the bounds of the common interests it was created to administer.
Government (or whosoever we cast blames on) starts with taking over our rights and sovereignty, and soon, the government deploys police, then, soldiers to “address your complaints” as things become more chaotic. Things get more chaotic and intractable to the extent of appointing wrong cause or false reason to address any human situation.
And, guess what the function of the coercive forces are? To prevent you from exercising or expressing your freedom! And the more you blame the government or whosoever, the more that entity assumes more command over your life.
Therefrom, the slavery of the individual and the theft of his or her sovereignty become irresistible, then inevitable. Soon, you will be required to line on the roadside waving your hands or flags with your class number stamped on your forehead as you shout "hail!!!" to the despot you have created.
Values of Being Responsibility
Now, by being responsibility, one is taking charge - direct and conscious charge - over the affairs of one’s own life and those seemingly uncaused circumstances that piled up against one in living.
So, being responsibility, then, is the sole efficacious method of taking full charge of your life, and keeping any other third-party entity - parents, government, police, ‘society’ - in abeyance of your rights to express your sovereignty over your life, except by your determinism, admit them into confidence or help.
The Big Proviso to Your Sovereignty
There is, of course, the prime proviso to the above; that you adhere to the tenets of the sovereign individual - a lawful, ethical, creative, and fully responsible individual.
Take charge, for this is your life!
See ya, Babatunde!