Random African Thought: Complacency Is The Seed Of Destruction

I always love to have a very good breakfast every morning and I normally take it in grand style. This is because I have always enjoyed quality food because I grew up in the home of a caterer. As a matter of fact, I always wake up from bed feeling hungry.

There is this Waakye seller in my neighbourhood and in my opinion she prepares arguably the best Waakye in Accra. I had to wake up early to start my journey to her joint since being late would mean you would have to wait in line of an unending queue for your turn to be attended to. She was that good.

The aroma from her stew was so irresistible that I likened it to hearing my favourite song being played. As the years passed, the queue kept reducing and the aroma from her stew did not make me feel the way it used to anymore. Complacency had set in. She knew she was too good and did not expect competition so she prepared the food anyhow and with time, her once great dish had lost the special touch.

Nowadays, when I hurriedly rush past her joint to the new joint I have discovered, I only see a few people gathered to patronize her food. To be complacent means to be contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions.

Complacency therefore means the feeling you have when you are satisfied with yourself. Logically, this feeling of satisfaction should push one to strive for more success but the opposite is the case. Complacency in our local settings begets ego, pride and class distinction. Complacency normally sets in when you are not aware. It takes different shapes and forms. The sad aspect of the whole issue is that complacency can be found in all aspects of life. Some beautiful women tend to get complacent by the fact that they are pretty.

They see their beauty as their sure bet to success. They therefore invest so much in their beauty and pay little attention to their other attributes like patience, humility and respect which would complement their beauty.

Have you ever asked yourself why there are so many aging pretty women in the pews at church praying for partners? Complacency does that. Even in the church complacency plays a role. Sometimes prophecies breed complacency. A lady receives a prophecy that she is going to marry a wealthy man and a young man also receives a prophecy of landing a new job with a five-figure starting salary.

The young lady per this assurance would turn down many men because their three-figure salary cannot be compared to the six-figure salary of her supposed wealthy husband. They normally forget that wealth acquisition is sometimes a slow and steady process. The young man who has also received the prophecy of a better job would treat his current job with contempt.

We sometimes forget that promotion is also a new job and if we treat what we have anyhow, who do we expect to recommend us when the opportunity arises? Complacency has dire consequences. For the Waakye seller, her price was the collapse of her business but others may not be that lucky. Complacency has caused the death of many people. Examples of such people include the famous biblical giant Goliath who was killed by a pebble. His colleague, Sampson was also killed by complacency. Sometimes complacency can be contagious. Your act of complacency can or may affect others.

I once lost a bet when F.C Barcelona failed to win against Granada. There may be times that it would be difficult to recover from a complacent act because people would have already formed their lifelong opinion about you. Let us all be careful with our actions.

I know that sometimes what we are naturally good at makes us complacent but we must strive to substitute complacency with matchless pursuance of continuous excellence.

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