Features
Be perfect in kindness
It’s been said that the little things are the big things. This applies to many aspects of life, but especially to the small courtesies, the little acts of kindness that end up making a big difference. Truly, from the small and simple comes that which is great. It happens when a seedling is nurtured and grows into a strong tree, and it happens when little kindnesses help people blossom and grow. It’s one of the most important ways we make a difference in the world. 
And certainly, there are things about the world that we wish were different. We see conflict and discord at home and abroad, and we wonder how things will ever improve. In this respect, our day isn’t unique; those who went before us faced times that were challenging and difficult too. But that doesn’t mean the situation is hopeless. There is something we can do to feel a little better about the world and about life. And it doesn’t have to be something grand or dramatic. Sometimes even the most complicated problems have surprisingly simple solutions.
When the world seems to spin out of control, we can do our part to “try to stem the madness,” as one columnist wrote recently. “It begins with simply caring,” she said, “by looking up from our cellphones and making eye contact; by asking the security guard about his day; thanking the garbage collector; doing favours without a scorecard; giving away money because someone needs it more. Sometimes a small gesture of kindness can change someone’s day or life. If the cumulative effect of evil acts brings us down, mightn’t the cumulative effect of good deeds lift us up?”
We’ve all experienced the wonderful way both givers and receivers are blessed when people help each other. So often, the receiver of help is prompted to become the giver of help to others. The chain of kindness continues to link people and spread warmth, even on cold and snowy days.
How grateful we are for those who don’t stop at their own front door or sidewalk, but extend to others. Such good-hearted people make the world a better place by doing something unexpected for others. It doesn’t take much: a little thoughtfulness, a little time, a little heart. One person visits those who he knows may be lonely. Another sends thank-you notes to people who have touched her life. Another always plans for a few extra servings whenever preparing a meal, so there’s something to share. And still another takes time to really listen. All do their part to start or continue a chain of kindness. In the process, they find connection and friendship. Helping others often leads to meaningful relationships that bring joy and satisfaction throughout life.
The seasons come and go, but opportunities to serve are always with us. In the timeless words of Martin Luther King Jr., “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?” Helping others is always in season.
Most often, those who do kind deeds never see their names in the newspaper; they rarely make headlines. But that’s OK. Their benevolence is not motivated by the thought of what they’ll get in return. They have big hearts, and they’ve discovered the thrill of doing something good.
Each of us can probably think of people who’ve helped us along the way. Often they’re close to home. A seven-year-old boy will not soon forget the kindness of his next-door neighbour. Just days before Christmas, the boy lost his dog. He did everything he could to find him. He looked around the neighbourhood, made a sign all by himself, and posted it on the mailbox. He asked neighbours if they’d seen him. Everyone was compassionate; they said they’d keep their eyes out for the boy’s dog. But one neighbour did a little more. He woke up early the next morning and searched for the dog. And again in the evening, the neighbour canvassed the area. On Christmas morning, the boy’s dog was home again, thanks to that kind neighbour. Can you imagine the boy’s delight when he woke up and discovered that dreams really do come true and prayers are indeed answered? The sparkle in his eye was the reward of kindness. And, as is often the case, the one who did the good deed was not even there to see it.
Hope swells every time we respond with kindness. Like breath, it moves through us all and reminds us that simple actions can make the world a better place. Human kindness gives meaning to otherwise ordinary days. We need each other; we depend on each other’s willing compassion and good cheer. By opening our hearts with simple acts of kindness, we feel connected to each other and to the God who gave us life.
It’s simple, really. A sure way to begin feeling a little better about the world and your life, a good way to truly make a difference in a troubled world, is to look around and do something good. The good we do matters, for the best way to drive away darkness is to turn on a light, even if it’s small. So do some good today and tomorrow. Before you know it, the world will become a better place.
Email: samueleghan@gmail.com
By Samuel Enos Eghan
Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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