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Opinions of Sunday, 18 September 2011

Columnist: The Emperor

Welcome To Ghana, The Ghetto!

Let me start off by saying that I love beauty. I love beautiful things and beautiful people! In comparison to ugliness, beauty is soft and gentle on the eyes. To me, if there’s anything, which we could learn from ugliness, is how to create beauty and be beautiful ourselves. Beauty reminds us of what we are as opposed to what we are not! That said, I so happen to live in a Western country, which suffered severely during the Second World War. During the war, most of the country’s infrastructure was bombarded to the ground, its houses totally destroyed. The Nazis invaded the country and tore it into pieces! After the war, the country of Holland was completely defaced. Her harbours laid in ruin, her spirit broken. There was nothing left but rubble! For sure, the Dutch needed to rebuild their country. Indeed, there were so much work left to be done. The country, on the other hand, was financially deficient. Luckily enough for them, the United States came to their rescue. The American government financed the rebuilding under its Marshall Plan.

Exactly sixty-six years after the war, Holland is back on her feet again. The country has been rebuilt and re-fashioned beautifully! The glory, which was hers before the war, is hers to enjoy again. Once again, the Dutch are beating their chests with pride. Of course, Holland isn’t the only country, which was bombarded aground by the Nazis. All the various countries, which make up the European Union, came into contact with Hitler’s wrath. As a result, their infrastructures became one with the dust as well. Undoubtedly, the country, which was bombarded the most, must have been Hitler’s own Germany. America and her allies were merciless on Germany. No sympathy was shown! They tore down the fences of Germany with their daily bombs and missiles. It was only until the German army surrendered that the bombs and missiles stopped raining. By then, Germany was done. She was completely finished! The beauty, which was hers to possess before the war, was nowhere to be found after the war.

Today, Germany is also back on her feet. Her towns and cities have been rebuilt beautifully! In fact, the whole of western Europe has been rebuilt beautifully. The streets in these countries are named, numbered, and very well maintained. The houses, castles and mansions are beautifully built and placed. In brief, everything is well organized and structured to the teeth. The European architects, together with their respective city planners, are constantly working to make their countries not only more beautiful for themselves to live in but also to attract tourists. In France, for instance, the city of Paris racks up millions of Euros from tourism alone. It seems that everybody wants to be and live in Paris! Simply because; Paris is beautiful and sexy. The same could be said about Rome, London, Milan, Berlin, and Venice. Las Vegas, which isn’t an European city, is my all time favorite. In Las Vegas, it’s all about architectural splendor and possibilities. To me, Las Vegas is a reminder of what happens, when humans want to make God proud.

In fact, once you have been to all these beautiful places, returning to Ghana to settle could pose some challenges. It could be very tough! After all, what has Ghana got to offer? There’s no Las Vegas kind of entertainment in the country. In comparison to Paris, Accra looks like a slum. Everybody seems to be putting up a house wherever they like! Mind you, Ghana has never been invaded by another country since her inception. Yet her towns and cities are uninspiring, unattractive, and frozen in time. There’s filth wherever you look. Ghana is supposed to be a rich country! However, everything in the country reminds you that you’re in a third world country, whenever you come on a visit. There’s hardly any man-made beauty to be found, none whatsoever! To tell the truth, Ghana shames me, when I see what the White folks have done with their countries. It hurts me to see what we have done with ours. We’ve turned ours into a ghetto! Something tells me that we Black people, with an exception of a few, are ghetto by nature. Meaning, we feel most comfortable in an disorganized, poor and filthy environment. Hence, our unwillingness to create a well organized and sane society for ourselves. I could be wrong! So, am I?

Welcome 2 the New age of Consciousness!

Source:
The Emperor