OUR DIFFERENCES UNITE OUR WORLD

    After a long argument, on whatsapp with a friend who study abroad, it dawned on me to write this piece. She believes there are more of young entrepreneurs, CEOs, researchers etc. in developed nations not because their countries are developed; providing ALL they need to achieve success at tender ages, but because they read more and act almost instantly, and she argues that we read less and don’t act! You may want to disagree with her. That’s fine, but prove her wrong by reading this article completely, and, of course, act instantly where you’re convinced truth is stated. Then you can make your comments and arguments.

Often times, people in large gatherings fragment themselves into small close-group of friends. Interestly, I found out that people do this fragmentation into smaller cliques unconsciously. Though I believe we should be intentional about who becomes a friend, I’ve found myself in group of friends, not knowing how exactly we became friends or even acquaintances. Some till this moment we can’t figure it out. It’s what we do instinctively. Obviously, people within our inner circles of influence are those we share some basic things in common. No matter how little those things we share are, they form the binding-covalent bonds amongst us. I remember a good friend telling me that, ‘you’re my friend today because of the genre of songs we love listening to.’ That would have been the least reason I could imagine.

If you’ve read the above paragraph properly and you lift your eyes to read the title of this article again, you’re likely going to say “this is a wrong title for the article.” Maybe because I’m now discussing similarities not differences. To have you not make that judgment lets consider other cases. In a market, two people leave their homes in the morning to join the crowded environment, both have something to offer, but the two people have different interests at heart. One is the seller; who prays to make good sales each day. The second party is the buyer; whose hope is to buy nothing but quality. The differences between the two fellows create a stable self-sustaining environment, the market. Imagine the two parties are either sellers or buyers. It doesn’t make any sense! Here’s the point if you’ve not puzzled it out; the seller owns the particular product needed by the buyer to satisfy his urgent/pleasurable needs. The buyer has in possession what the seller need to sustain and prosper his business, and of course meet his human needs, the buyer has money. In other words, they have the solution to each other’s problems. The difference in their needs create a platform of solution to their problems reciprocally. It’s no exception with the academic environment; where someone gets paid to generously give a fraction of what he/she has learnt, experienced or discovered. Another person (probably me) has to pay a meager sum of bucks to be imparted with some world-changing knowledge. These differences make up a school anywhere in the world. Beside, if I don’t perceive I have a need, which is different from that of the person imparting me with knowledge, I wouldn’t have used the opportunity cost of coming to school instead of doing something else – like doing business, which it too, will only prosper if I can figure out the needs of the society. Societal needs could be different from my personal needs, but my personal needs will be met after meeting someone’s different needs. This sounds like the principle of the golden rule.

Now, let’s have a gross mental picture of the world, where you see different people with different skin colors, ascents, beliefs, social norms and values, ethics, ethnicity, religion, political views, ambitions, principles, policies and philosophies. These differences are aimed at making the world a neutral, stable whole. An atom is believed to be neutral/stable because of the existence of this difference we’ve been talking about. The sum of the negative charges (electrons) equals the sum of the total opposite positive charges (protons). The two charges neutralize to create stability. How about the law of electrostatics in physics; unlike attract, like repel. Ultimately, we can’t live life without the existence of difference among us. If the forces of our human differences are not recognized and valued, we’re never going to make a world of stability and unity with peaceful atmosphere for the human family to breathe in and out love.

I believe God who created nature, and nature imposing these differences, did it for good; for the human creatures to see the importance of each other. If we all look alike facially, folks, it’s going to be a disaster; crimes will not be easily detected. Think of more disasters yourself. How about if we all have interest in the same things; career, wife/husband, lifestyle, inclinations etc.? Some people can’t travel except by air. I never blame them; they create job opportunities for pilots and aeronautic engineers. Others prefer to travel by road, thus, the road transport union form an employing body to millions of people out there. Our differences create great opportunities for us. That’s the uniting power of our differences, to glue the different human societies into a single whole, a single world. Our differences basically are stuffs that spice up life. It makes me want to dive deeper into life and explore more of the commonly neglected opportunities which only the understanding of human differences can offer. Let’s value the differences. 

If you can’t tolerate other people because of ethnic or religious differences (unfortunately even the educated fail in this aspect!), you’ve got some really big problems understanding why these differences must exist. You can’t change it. It’s a historic, life-long and forever-constant principle. No one man sat down under an apple tree to make this great discovery, like Isaac Newton did. It manifested itself naturally. It’s said that, ‘it’s a sign of maturity to accept and be at peace with things you can’t change.’ The existence of these differences in our world is what nobody, not even a sect or gang, can exterminate. Accept it, tolerate it and enjoy its existence. Respect all people, irrespective of their individual school of thought, religion and ethnicity. Love people, add value to humanity. The world is all we’ve got, and as the now late Michael Jackson sang it melodiously, ‘lets make it a better place for you and me.’

                                                                              WRITTEN BY: Adamu Musa Taimako

Humans as gods of Themselves

      It is believed that human beings evolved from primitive and lower animals. While this remains controversial, similarities exist between human beings and other organisms; they reproduce and they die, they ingest and they egest etc. Despite the amazing similarities nature imposed on all living things, human beings show one great contrast to other organisms; the belief and consciousness of existence of one supreme, sovereign being; who though invisible, yet powerful to create and to destroy, to give and to take, to promote and to demote.
Though the consciousness of the existence of the Supreme Being forms a major similarity amongst humans, they are however segregated and differentiated into two classes; depending on one’s possessions and life expectancy. Some humans better referred to as the “cream of the society”, are considered members of a superior class by the other more abundant and densely populated class who believed they to be inferior to the former. One who hails from this inferior class is best described with three words, ‘the common man’.
The ‘common man’ known for his commitment to the worship of the Supreme God, does this mainly because of his belief that only Him can ‘push’ him up the ladder to becoming one among the well-to-do. This same group of human beings believing they are inferior to the ‘cream of the society’, show them great loyalty and humility. Surprisingly, they at some points, submit themselves to the services of the superior class than to the supreme God; even to ‘sacrifice’ a fellow common man for the benefit and success of the small gods –the men of affluence. As a result of this humble submission, the superior class believes it could decide who becomes a part of its distinguished members. Though they are humans with no other observable difference apart from their life style and possessions, perhaps their know-how of acquiring such possessions, they behave as gods that determine the destiny of the common man. They do this by means of leadership with ultra vires; regulating the time at which, and amount of resources reaching the common man, bearing in mind that excesses of this resources will definitely, in no time, make the common man a god of himself. With this, it is clear that no god would want to share his glory with any other.
      What then has made the common man really common? Inferiority complex is the best answer. It has caused the common man to be unable to see and believe his abilities and potentials but accepts that his destiny is actually dependent on the ‘small gods’ and the little resources at hand, which they too he can maximize. Inferiority complex is the greatest murderer of our time; it has killed and is killing potentials. It has mad e young business minds and leaders unsuccessful and has left students failures; they never believe they can make their best grades. Until there is a change in the common man’s thoughts and beliefs, these gods will continue to manipulate him and his resources for their personal increment. And his loyal services for their comfort. There are two contradictory schools of thought; one believes that when you change the situations surrounding a man’s life, you automatically change the man’s life. The other school, where I belong to, believes that when you change the man’s mind (his thoughts), you automatically change the situations surrounding his life. In Nigeria, successful don’t mind giving out charity an d other forms of assistance. Very few of those successful characters devote themselves to real human development. Here’s the solved puzzle, when I offer you a gift in cash, I successful kill the zeal in you work hard and smart to be successful. But when I decide to teach you how get the cash by yourself, I am building a successful character in you. This is the simple reason why the rich get richer and the poor remain vulnerable to awful situations. Reuse to be given fishes, learn how to fish yourself!
      Truth be told, a gap will always exist between the rich and the poor but how wide the gap is, is what really matters. To approximate this gap, the bounteous rich should simply give aids to the “have not’s” and influence the mean of their class to do the same. However, the problem with giving aids is that the poor tend to become indolent. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said it this way, “I admit that there is a huge problem and I believe that aids can be useful, although I much prefer the idea of aids that does not end up creating a dependency in people”. This implies that with every aid received by the common man he tends to wait, instead of work, for his next ‘daily bread’. Also the rich should quit exploiting and taking advantage of the poor. It is erroneous to conclusively say that the problem is always with the rich. The common man should learn to take responsibility of himself by his self, as there are countless men who were yesterday among the nobodies but they form a major part of the distinguished men of affluence today.
      I wish that the dreaming sons and daughters of the ‘common men’ will wake up and become uncomfortable with their level of thinking and achievements, and realize that their destinies are in their own hands. That when they fold their hands and sit, giving up on themselves, they are folding their destinies and, perhaps unknowingly, passing on the trait of remaining common and inferior onto their next generations. Apparently, when they stretch out their folded hands in hard work and faith in the impartial sovereign God who had given all men equal opportunities and chances to become great and independent gods of themselves, only then can they reach their beautiful, imaginable and attainable destinies.