Opinions of Sunday, 2 July 2023

Columnist: Rockson Adofo

Better be your true self than a sly hypocrite

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If all human beings could better truthfully be themselves, there would be less problems and fewer misunderstandings in the world. However, the fact most human beings, especially my fellow Ghanaians, are damn hypocrites and sycophants for reasons best known to them, there is bound to be problems all around us, wherever you look.

What stops one from coming out openly to declare their support for say, a particular political party, or candidate, in our democratic dispensation, rather than deceitfully presenting yourself as say, NPP faithful, whereas actually within your heart, you are saying, an NDC enthusiast through and through?

For these pretenses, we shall always have difficulty addressing the mounting problems facing our country Ghana.

As a declared sympathizer of the NPP but not a damn fanatic, the author of this article is able to praise the leaders where praise is due them and constructively criticizes them, suggests solutions and prescribes strategies when those become necessary and the way forward.

Why can’t we be honest with ourselves but pretend to be who and what we are not? What do we gain from our pretenses if not to cheat ourselves or with a motive to fool our fellow human beings?

What do you gain as a citizen with duty-bound responsibility to be of service to your country and people but rather choose to deceive them?

Actions, they say, speak louder than words. Therefore, I shall encourage my fellow Ghanaians to be themselves. They should not try to hide their true nature as that can’t be possible. Their deceit can only last them for some time but not forever. However hard they try, they will sooner be caught out as it is with pregnancy. If a pregnant woman initially denies she is pregnant, she will surely be exposed with the passage of time by her baby bump.

Similarly, if your mum is dead and you claim she is asleep, all will wait to see if she will wake up.

Let us stop deceiving ourselves and be ourselves. Who will you be fooling if you claim to be who and what you are not?

Is it too hard, or shameful, for you to declare the side of the political divide you belong to? Is it too hard for you to be honest with your group, criticize and make suggestions to them rather than being as though, you are with them every step of the way whereas you are actually against them?

We should always think about the collective interests of Ghana as a nation and people and vigorously aspire to obtain that objective rather than always seeking to acquire our individualistic interests at the expense of the nation hence pretending to be who and what we are not.

If Ghana should collapse, it collapses on the heads of all Ghanaians. If Ghana thrives socio-politico-economically, it is to the benefit of all.

Human beings are of course not the same, and can impossibly be the same. However, we have to strive to be honest and cease to be overly greedy for illegally-acquired wealth, the cause of Ghana’s difficulty in making any inroads into praiseworthy economic development.

Let us stop our propensity to pull people down for all selfish and malevolent reasons.

Be yourself. Be who you are, or who you want to be, without any pretenses. Be either cold or hot but not lukewarm.

Ghanaians, let us unite, be honest, and eschew greediness and corruption but see the collective prosperity of the country as the only means for you to achieve personal genuine prosperity and joy.

This article is like an enigma, only deep thinkers that are honest and seek the collective prosperity of their nation and people can crack it.