The Benefits of Living in Unity & Being One Another’s Keeper – A Lesson from Animals

"In unity, we stand. In division, we fall". This is a proven fact well exemplified by certain citizens of advanced nations and some animals in the wild.

As most of my writings are for educating the public, telling the truth, encouraging fellow Ghanaians, especially my Kumawuman compatriots, to live in cooperation and unity to pursue a common goal for our collective wellbeing, the tantalization of cooperation among certain animals in the jungle has motivated my authoring of this publication. If animals that are less intelligent than humans, can live the life of cooperation, pursuing their collective interests to enable them survive in their jungle ways of life, why can't us, Ghanaians or Kumawuman citizens, human beings of course, live a life that has the attainment of our collective interests as our ultimate objective? Why have we chosen to live a life of self-serving interest? Why have we chosen to live in the fantasy world of "all for me, nothing for others?"

It is known that the elephant is the strongest animal in the wild by its sheer size and might, although nature has made it such that the tiny crab can kill it. Apart from the crab, an elephant is no match for any one single animal in the forest. This is just by the way.

No single lion, no matter how strong it is, although being the King of the Jungle, can floor or kill an adult elephant. Nevertheless, lions are able to kill an elephant with relative ease. How do they do it? They do it by way of hunting the elephant as a group, or better put, as a pride of lions. This is where living in cooperation in the understanding of "in unity lies strength", the lions are able to make the elephant their prey.

Again, a hyena flees at the sight of a lion or an adult lion. This is because a lion can easily prey on it. Nonetheless, hyenas by nature live in groups and by their sheer group numbers, and cooperating as a family with a common objective of protecting themselves and hunting for food, they are able to kill and feed on the mightier predator, thus, the lion.

With the same sense of living in unity being beneficial in mind, and being one another's keeper leading to survivability, a group of hyenas attacked a male lion that is capable of marking its territory and defending it aggressively. However, when another colleague lion saw how its kind was being attacked, and about to be killed by scavenging hyenas, it ran to its rescue. As soon as the hyenas saw it coming, they ran away, leaving the lion they were attacking safe, although physically and psychologically bruised.

If animals do understand the usefulness of living in cooperation as demonstrated in the videos, true stories of course, why can't we do same, my fellow Ghanaians and Kumawuman compatriots? Why do we leave each one to fend for themselves only to embolden our mostly corrupt politicians, our abusive and wicked so-called traditional overlords, and those insatiably greedy civil service heads, to continually abusively take advantage of us?

Do you mean to tell me that the animals are rather more intelligent, more caring and wiser than the Ghanaian or than my fellow Kumawuman compatriot? From the look of things, yes! But I may be mistaken, who knows?

Let me use Kumawuman to better explain the point I am trying to convey to the public. It has come about that there is clear injustice going on in Kumawu with regard to their chieftaincy dispute. A so-called traditional overlord who claims to be bigger than any law in Ghana, with whatever he says and does accorded pre-eminence, although wrongly so, has decided to flout Kumawuman conventions with impunity. He thinks to have the absolute traditional and customary rights to impose anyone of his choice on Kumawuman as their paramount chief without anyone able to say, hey, you are wrong so you dare not do that!

For the fact that Kumawuman citizens, unlike the hyenas, have resigned themselves to each one for himself and God for us all attitude, thereby not cooperating to state their point that the overlord is erring, if not erred, the overlord has been empowered to pursue his acts of total illegalities that are anathema to Kumawuman usage. He would long have fled like a dog with its tail tucked in-between its legs if Kumawuman people had a quarter of the sense of cooperation and unity as does exist among certain animals in the wild, e. g. the hyenas.

If Ghanaians, especially my fellow Kumawuman subjects could be as little wise as the ant which knows when to stock food against the rainy season, when the terrain is risky for it to go out in search of food, we would never be left at the precarious mercy of our corrupt leaders who although are black, see us as much darker and subhuman hence their love of treating us badly.

If weaker animals know how best to act to stay alive, why can't us, fellow Ghanaians or my Kumawuman compatriots? Why should we attack ourselves? Why should we live in division, making us easy target to persuade by the wicked and corrupt politicians and traditional overlords? By our own ignorance, selfishness and lack of foresight, we have become victims of exploitation by wicked, greedy and selfish public and traditional leaders.

Shall we from today forward learn a useful lesson from the animals to amend our thinking for the better? Or, should we continue to stagnate in our weak ways only to be manipulated and abused by the so-called powerful ones in the society? Shall we allow our fears and inferiority complexes to stymie our fight for justice, oh fellow Ghanaians, especially Kumawuman people?

The bible says in Proverb 6:6 – " Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise" Subsequently, let feats of strength by these animals, emanating from their willingness to live in larger groups pursuing the same cause of action, be a guide to us from today forward, the only we can set ourselves free from abuses at the hands of our wicked leaders who think they are stronger and cleverer to get away with blue murder all of the time. Are you not mesmerised by the display of intelligence by the hyenas or the pride of lions to conquering their enemies or victims, in which case it is their preys, despite the preys' enormous sizes?

Rockson Adofo
Tuesday, 19 November 2019