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On “the Ghanaian Dream”

Feature Article On the Ghanaian Dream
DEC 4, 2013 LISTEN

My little sister, who, like me, is an avid reader and an ever observant soul, recently noted: “if there's such a thing as the American dream, what about Ghana? Do we have a Ghanaian dream?”

That set me thinking and made me recall a Jim Rohn tape I once listened to. The Business philosopher, on the tape, passed some comments about that much touted thing known as “the American Dream,” and made the point that it is a thing particular to the United States and that there's no such thing as the Russian Dream or the Chinese Dream.

And I found myself agreeing with him to some extent. What's known as the American Dream is truly peculiar to the United States; America is, arguably, the one place on Earth where everything is unbounded, and there are limitless opportunities almost. It is the one place where everybody has the chance to get enough education, access all available opportunities, plunge for one or more of the many career choices available; the one place where you can start with nothing and end up with something, the one place where you can even make a decent living on minimal education or none at all, no matter your racial background and religious beliefs.

You can create opportunities for yourself and make it, no matter what, and succeed in living your dreams—your own personalized version of the American Dream. No wonder thousand upon thousands of souls throng to her shores every year.

So, what about Ghana? Do we have a Ghanaian Dream? Is there such a thing as “the Ghanaian Dream?”

Of course not. But that doesn't mean that there aren't opportunities for making a living in Ghana and that her citizens can't be successful at what they do or want to do. They, sure, can. Only problem is that—due to the low level of education among a majority of the citizenry—most people have this bizarre belief that the foremost responsibility of the “Government in power” is to take care of them, to provide all their financial, health, education, and even emotional needs. Most people have this mindset, which prevents them from improving themselves through self-education and personal development- to the extent that they can create opportunities for themselves or make use of those available. Even some of the educated, once in awhile, do throng the streets to agitate for jobs.

Of course, Governments must play its part in creating opportunities that the citizens can utilize and benefit from, but the chief responsibility rests on the individual. What would we do if the Government is unable to take care of us? What would we do? What should we do?

We need to believe in ourselves and really believe that we can create opportunities for ourselves through self-education and succeed in living our dreams, no matter what.

So, here is the Ghanaian dream freshly written, freshly coined, which every individual must have as a watchword (unless they're already having one). I choose to put it thus—“I will make it no matter which part of Ghana I find myself in and no matter the Government in power.”

Yes, dear sister. There's such a thing as the Ghanaian dream. A few individuals have it and do live it.

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