Anna Shinana
IT is only fair and proper to start off this commentary by wishing everyone a blessed, productive, fruitful and corruption-free year seeing that this is the second week of 2014 and some of us may still be acquainting ourselves with the new but no so new year.
As usual, most of us have drawn up resolutions. Most of our many resolutions never really change every year because most of us resolve to change our diets, exercise more, travel to new places, amongst many other plans, but sorry ngo as the year progresses we tend to be drawn back into our old year’s way of doing things and hope for better luck the following year.
Some common resolutions are to get fitter, lose weight and adopt some healthy habits and to stick to them, or finish that course one has enrolled for but keeps dropping when the going gets tough. I like new year resolutions, they are good and they are meant well as they keep one focused and goal-orientated. They however requires a lot of willpower and endurance.
With our many resolutions many changes are required for all of us to move forward positively, after all change as the saying goes, is the law of life. In a way of understanding, making resolutions also means ‘solving a problem, again and again and again’ but again I say sorry ngo as these often tend to become empty promises.
However as a society I personally believe we need to curb some behaviour and traits that I believe keep us from progressing as a nation. So I am suggesting a new kind of new year’s resolution. I have an issue with the fact that Namibians tend to dwell on petty issues while we could be collectively more focused on issues that matter to this country, positive issues and productive issues.
For instance, as soon as 2014 dawned I came across a SMS in a daily newspaper that complained about Big Brother Africa Season 8 winner Dillish Mathews. The author had an issue with the fact that Mathews used part of her N$3 million winnings to honour a promise she made to a fellow contestant from Ghana by buying him a motorbike. I sincerely think that was a very honourable thing to do and I say kudos to Dillish Mathews. You have gained some points with me. After all, how many of us stick to the promises we make, not just to our friends, families, lovers, etc. but in general, yes I see some guilty faces?
I know enough has been said and written about this poor girl (ok, not so poor considering the winnings) but I think it’s time we let Dillish Mathews live her life now. BBA8 has come and gone, Mathews went there, saw and conquered, a very a hard thing to do, every contestant’s dream. As Namibians we all expected one of our own people to come back home with the BBA winnings. She won because of her good character that was obviously appreciated by the greater population of the African continent.
The SMS author expressed her disappointment with Dillish Mathews for buying that motorbike and suggested that she should rather think of the less privileged and disadvantaged.
I am quite sure Mathews knows what is right and what is not and she has seen enough people around her to advise her when the need arises. My advice to this author would be that, it doesn’t need one to win millions of dollars to think of being a philanthropist. I say the SMS author should have used the time she took to write and send that SMS towards something good and not petty as she did. She should have used that time to visit and volunteer at some children’s hospital, soup kitchen or old age home.
I am not here to speak in defence of Mathews, but my point is that some of us need a change in attitude and should stop dwelling on issues so petty. Our country is faced with so many issues that need the attention of all of us – high crime rate, violence against women and children, high unemployment rate. But kamastag no, we would rather, as the saying goes, adopt the attitude of “pot calling the kettle black” and point fingers guiltily at others.
We don’t realise that all of us can make a difference if we put our minds to some good use. My resolution for all of us in 2014 is that we focus on what is really important. If we don’t know what is important it’s advisable to take some time out and figure out what is important. Let us stop having unnecessary disputes, venting our anger on others. I say we begin with a clean slate. We cannot change the world but we can change our attitudes. We must co-exist, work together and support each other. Let’s stop complaining about petty issues and be good to people. It’s never too late to change, plus a little change will make so much difference in our lives.