Heroes And Honour: Misrepresentation And Misconception

"A nation that does not honour its heroes is not worth dying for ". To me, this is one of the most misconstrued statements. This probably stems from our failure to understand who a hero is or who should be honoured. Before, during and after the Founders' Day celebration, there was a lot of brouhaha about whether Nkrumah was the founder of Ghana and whether he should be lumped together with other founders. I asked myself, is it not enough honour for a university (KNUST) to be named after an individual as well as other notable places such as the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange?

I am sure that most Ghanaians are grateful to our leaders from time immemorial who have brought us this far but what I am more concerned about is our mentality that makes us think that it is acceptable for us to spend our time, taxes and other resources in branding and celebrating only politicians as heroes and not the ordinary man on the street who works hard daily to contribute to the development of this country. This is the same mentality that makes us accept that leaders should go for meetings and take sitting allowances and also take their salaries but see it as too much to give the labourer "sweating allowance " in addition to his wages.

This is also the same mentality that makes us think that at meetings leaders should be given comfortable chairs whiles followers sit on chairs that leave them with backache, at meetings leaders should be given bottled water whilst followers are not given even "bottled air". The list continues: Why should administrators and those in top positions sit in air-conditioned offices whiles their workers sit in offices that makes them think that hell has been relocated? Why should a headmaster sit in an air-conditioned office whiles some of his students do not even have chairs to sit on? Why should a CEO cruise to work in his comfortable car whiles the ordinary worker comes to work drenched in sweat as if he has been practising for a marathon and this same CEO has not been able to come up with any means of transporting his workers.

Why should government officials sit in big cars, fueled by the tax payer and enjoy cozy working and living conditions at the expense of the tax payer when these same leaders and politicians have not been able to make life comfortable for the tax payer and still expect that the car of the ordinary man should move aside for theirs to pass?

Why do we pave way for government or presidential convoys when they are passing to God knows where, but we hesitate to pave way for an ambulance that has its siren on high blast with the excuse that there is no one in the ambulance? Do we ever think that even though there is no patient in an ambulance, it might be on its way to pick up someone whose life is hanging in the balance?

Why should the administrator of a hospital who owns his private car be given a government vehicle when this same hospital cannot even boast of a rickety ambulance?

I am sure there are a lot of questions that can be added to these that show that we have a mentality that makes us take whatever our leaders and politicians throw at us but as citizens these questions should ignite in us a passion to change our mentality from the one that portrays only spearheads, leaders and politicians as the ones who deserve recognition. If you wake up every day, go to work and do what is expected of you as a worker and a citizen, you are a hero. Our farmers who toil on a regular basis to fill our stomachs are heroes. Our teachers who go to work every day to make sure our young ones do not grow up to call lions as elephants and alphabets as numbers are also heroes. Our health workers who make sure we have good health are also heroes. These are just a few of the heroes who are unsung in this country.

To our leaders and politicians, please educate us when you have the opportunity to come on air and let our ears and minds rest from your constant and untrue reminder that you are the only heroes of the world. To us as ordinary citizens, we should hold our leaders accountable and bring them to a point where they will know that if you make no meaningful contribution to the ordinary man under your leadership, you have no right whatsoever “chilling” with the tax payer’s money(No contribution, no "chilling"). We should let them know that we also deserve the cozy conditions that they enjoy.

A country that does not honour its heroes because it does not even know or pretend to know who are the true heroes, is not worth dying for.

By:
Prince KYEI BAFFOUR
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