ORDINARY PEOPLE LIKE YOU; CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME……………..BY IFEOLUWA KALEJAIYE

One of the most popular sayings in the world is ‘Charity begins at home’. The next thing u will wonder is why the saying. Before I go further, let me establish that I am a Nigerian from the Western part of the country and if you have any insight whatsoever into the western culture, you’d know that we are not unfamiliar with these so called sayings/adages. Hence, but for time, I could give you a thousand and one, all relating to one point. The point being that charity begins at home, therefore, you cannot give what you don’t have.

As a Nigerian, in a country with moral decadence and idiosyncrasies (of course these are not limited to Nigeria alone, but I should only state that of which I have proof). I have often wondered about our leaders. Political leaders I mean. Taking a walk down memory lane to as far back as I can remember, Nigeria has never had ‘good’ leaders. I’m not talking about perfect leaders. Just good ones. You know those ones that don’t ‘steal’ money, that fix the roads, schools, hospitals etc. Of course that is not to say that none have tried. I’m just saying that none have actually succeeded. Not because they all leave our roads and schools dilapidated. They try. Each one of them in their own ways albeit minuscule. However, according to the Nigerian standard for as long as I can remember (and I stand to be corrected) we have not had ‘good’ leaders, from the lowest level of government to the highest. 

That being established the next thing that crosses my mind is why? Why is it that we seem not to have gotten it right? We are after all a democratic society. So it is safe to say that the general populace is to be held responsible because after all it is we who vote this people as our leaders. For the sake of arguments, the general populace might say “It isn’t who we vote that ends up winning, often there’s rigging” And for the sake of argument, let’s say they were right. Now the general populace has been let off the hook. Who then should we blame? Maybe we should stop shifting blames and focus on the problem. What is the problem? We don’t have good leaders. Why don’t we? That is arguably because they are bad people. Why are the bad people? Well, that is another bone of contention. But from my vantage point, on a pile of hay, in this incredible cold, I have only just concluded that maybe they are bad people because that is all they have been brought up to be. This brings us back to the beginning of the circle. Charity begins at home. These so called bad leaders have parents right? Would it be safe then to say that this parents didn’t practice the charity begins at home phrase? Is it that they didn’t bring up their children well, and so in turn they turned out bad? Or is it just a random chain of coincidence that every hitherto elected and appointed leader simply declined their parents charitably impacted knowledge of the difference between good and evil? Maybe and maybe not. But then again, I am only one person and my opinion is not the opinion of all.

Now in conclusion, I am quite sorry to burst your bubble, but this piece isn’t to those bad leaders. They are the present and the past. Their being bad people is an already established fact that I am not sure I am capable of doing anything about. This piece on the contrary is to one out of two sets of people. The first set being Me and u, the “ordinary people” who have time without number become bad leaders and the second set to which this article is aimed; me and u, the “ordinary people” who are yet to become leaders. We have one thing in common. We are ordinary people in the end. Since there is nothing I can do about the former, I have this to say to the latter; you cannot give what you don’t have. You cannot be a good leader if you are not a good person. Yes, the Government is full of bad people, but the government is merely a body of changing identities with similar characteristics. It is a lot safer to sit on our seats in our homes and condemn the government. But remember, the government is made up of “ordinary people” like u. Fallible, imperfect people like you. Who will leave there one day and make way for you. My point is when you get there what will the difference be? Charity begins at home. Work on yourself. Each and every one of you, and maybe, just maybe we won’t have so many bad leaders and a very few good ones. Maybe the reverse will be the case. Cheers!!!