Clap, Clap, Clap Again

"LADIES and gentlemen, with another round of resounding clap, let's welcome her back on stage," says the MC. "Give him a clap; you can do better," another MC pleads.

"I expect a clap for that one," an MC demands.

Why must Ghanaians be told, implored, coaxed to clap and clap and clap again at functions? Does it say anything about us? Is there more to clapping than meets the eye?

Ghanaians do clap; yes, they do, and it comes naturally and joyously.

Universally, we clap to show appreciation and encouragement. We clap to convey our likeness and admiration at performances, and to reward those who make time to talk to us at events.

Sometimes, during conversation, people just clap hilariously to show their happiness at a story or joke, or just to convey the sentiments of fun and contentment.

Clapping is good. Since clapping is good, why do most MCs find it necessary to remind us to clap, and to do it more enthusiastically?

The sparseness of clapping in the Ghanaian society says something about the content of our subliminal consciousness.

It says that whereas we appreciate the good in people, our appreciation is not generous enough, and that means the degree of encouragement in our society is less than desirable.

Against the way we clap in Ghana, let's contrast the way Europeans and Americans clap.

You would observe that when a performer ends his or her performance, the audience show a manifestly impressive appreciation with a clapping that touches the heart of the person.

 It is to say "well done" in a manner that is sincere and approving of what had taken place.

Even at sporting events, including football, one notices the spontaneity and readiness to clap at the least show of effort, or extraordinary showmanship.

Watch how often audience abroad clap at a football match, and how the effect imparts a magic to soccer, as the players play their souls out to win.

That is one reason soccer pays abroad, and Africans, including Ghanaians, aim at being engaged to play for overseas football clubs.

I do recall a musical show put up by an American jazz and pop group, Junior & Guy Wells ( I hope that's the name), sponsored by the USIS, at the University of Cape Coast around 1976-77.

The concert took place at the auditorium. The music was good, and the performance electrifying.

But you see, when Ghanaians are appreciating good music, and I think most things, they concentrate on the activity, till it ends, before clapping.

The poor folks from America were playing their hearts out, but we were sitting there enjoying the music in a restrained manner as if we were afraid of something.

Suddenly, the leader burst out mid way in a song and said: "Hi, you there, why are you sitting there like a pack of boy scouts? Aren't you enjoying the songs?

Anything wrong? Get involved, men!"

So, they played a couple of songs for us to clap and accompany them as they sang. We did it for some short time and stopped! Would it have been so in America? No!

The sparseness of clapping in the Ghanaian society shows how difficult it is to do a thing and be encouraged to go on to higher heights.

We are too quick to criticise, to condemn, to slight, to play down, to disregard and, altogether, to discourage.

Such a consciousness is what shows in the type of clapping that takes place at events.

Because it is so embarrassing to perform, doing your best, and it not being good enough, the MCs come in to pep up the spirit of the performer by asking the audience to show more appreciation by clapping better.

Why don't we realise that it is far easy to criticise than to do? And that those who perform need the utmost encouragement from us to do it better and actually be the best?

At the function of a funeral recently, a Ghanaian acrobatic group performed kinds of displays, involving difficult postures, skilled juggling of things and pans, and generally showed mastery of their work.

It was obvious they were not that educated, but they knew their vocation. They were excellent! I expected the audience to clap at the feats they performed, but they did not, though they appreciated them, from the smiles on their faces.

It was as if we were condescendingly indulging them. My clapping was hollow and embarrassing!

We must admit we are not altogether lacking in encouragement and appreciation, hence the National Awards given on Republic Day, ACRAG, Sports Awards, Prize and Speech Days, and Long Service Awards, amongst others.

But beyond this, the society is not supportive enough, and what we should aim at is to be conscious of this deficiency in us as Ghanaians, and resolve to change for the good of our country.

We must encourage, appreciate, support, push up, adore, honour, revere, exalt, idolise, and clap, and clap and clap again for all Ghanaians who do the least good thing, till our hands bleed from clapping! Clapping is love and kindness in action! Others do not clap; they act out love and encouragement.

Let me share with you simple stories from America, culled from the book Chicken Soup for the Soul, by Jack Cranfield and Mark Victor Hansen.

A college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys.

 They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy's future. In every vase the students wrote. "He hasn't got a chance." Twenty-five years later, another sociology professor came across the earlier study.

 He had his students follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys.

With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors, and businessmen.

The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area and he was able to ask each one, "How do you account for your success?" In each case the reply came with a feeling, "There was a teacher."

The teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked her what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement.

The teacher's eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile, "It's really very simple," she said. "I loved those boys."

If she had not encouraged them to bring out the best in them, would they have amounted to anything? She clapped the gold out of them!

One more. Some of the greatest success stories of history have followed a word of encouragement or an act of confidence by a loved one or a trusting friend.

Had it not been for a confident wife, Sophia, we might not have listed among the great names of literature the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer.

When Nathaniel, a heartbroken man, went home to tell his wife that he was a failure and had been fired from his job in a customhouse, she surprised him with an exclamation of joy.

"Now," she said triumphantly, "you can write your book!"

"Yes," replied the man, with sagging confidence, "and what shall we live on while I am writing it?"

To his amazement, she opened a drawer and pulled out a substantial amount of money.

"Where on earth did you get that?!" he exclaimed.

"I have always known you were a man of genius", she told him. "I knew that someday you would write a masterpiece.

So every week, I saved a little bit out of the housekeeping money you gave me. So here is enough to last a whole year."

From her trust and confidence came one of the greatest novels of American literature, The Scarlet Letter.

What a word of encouragement does, what financial assistance does, what a prize does, what national recognition does, what confidence in one does is about the same thing that clapping does:

it says to the person "well done"! And that's what we all need for the best to come out of us.

It won't be long when you'd have the opportunity to clap soon. When the time comes, remember, you'd change someone's life for the best by your show of encouragement.

 
Clap, clap, clap again! We all need it!

By Ahumah Ocansey

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