THE POWER OF VALUE

I grew up in a small community at the west of Africa, precisely in Cameroon’s North West region. It was the period after the multi-party turmoil of the early 1990’s which led to the creation of multi partism. Then it was our environments that determined who we were. The culture propagated the communal spirit. Everybody seemed to be at peace with everyone back there. I was brought up and thought to greet everyone on the street especially the elderly before passing by. Give a friendly smile to people. Homes could welcome strange kids and parents will scold for wrong doings and treat neighbor’s children as theirs. It felt like everyone was a parent to every child and every child was a kid to every parent. Funny as it sounds but as a child in the North West back then, you had the corrective eye watching you wherever you are. People greatly derived satisfaction empowering others.

It was peaceful there but politically and economically things weren’t right so I had embark on a quest to change my community. I didn’t know how but I knew one thing. Change is an influence of an eternal factor. This led me on a quest for change. As I travelled far away I came to realize there was diversity in thought and form which was a reverse of what I grew up knowing. The first three lessons I had to un-learn and the last ONE I had to learn was;

1.    You don’t just greet people on the streets.

2.    You don’t smile at people for no reason.

3.    You don’t make peoples business your business without their concern.

4.    People cherished their privacy and most often, satisfaction was a function of personal empowerment.

I t was a difficult time learning these I must say neither could I blame myself nor environment back then for inculcating these attributes. Then it all dawned to me. It was the work of the paper boss (MONEY).

The paper boss was in charge of the modern world and because he was the boss, he paid them with the substance (his paper) he was made of and they had to work tirelessly for him. Their values were modeled to follow his lead. It was/is difficult for him to get full autonomy of the rural and communal man as a result of the myriad of values he has to shatter to get a core grip of them. Hence traits which are encompassed with moral values, ethical principles and community spirit are disregarded by most who are employed under his payroll. The areas that worked harder for him were thus rewarded more. This is the world we live in. WHERE VALUEE DIFFER, RESULTS DIFFER TOO.

As a little boy I learned and grew with a particular mindset and held certain values. I wanted to change my surrounding so as do many Africans. I wanted to see positivity and happiness flow unilaterally but it all came down to the values we held and have and that we still hold. I now not only understand that change is external but can be internal (a whole topic on its own) as well but must begin from value redefinition. You can be anything you want to be if only you can redefine your value. Redefinition of value is the only lens you can use to see in the perspective of your opponent and having a lens on does not mean you lost your eye.