Diciphering Patriotism

Sometimes I wonder whether Liberians will ever get their acts together when it comes reconciliation and the development of that country. It appears to be all fun to me as I spill my gut feelings:

I hate to concur with John Gay who lived from 1685 to 1732, that:

"Life is a jest, and all things show it;
I thought so once, and now I know it."

John must have experienced the same feeling I felt when I told an advocate of the 70s, who later became a Minister in the Samuel Doe government, how the same people he said he was fighting for were complaining of the same rampant corruption and misuse of power for which the previous government was dislodged. This advocate turned Minister looked into my eyes and asked: "Who people you're talking about?"

I was shocked and felt betrayed. In the cause of the people, the struggle continues means different things to different people. I thought it meant all of the people of the land or the neighborhood. So actually when a Bassa man pumps his fist in the air and cries...in the cause of the people, he is really saying that his fight is for the Bassa people. His fight is not for the people of Liberia.

Now I am beginning to understand and believe the rumor that President Doe wanted every ship on the sea to come to Liberia and take away our Krahn brothers and sisters. It didn't have to be that way if the struggle was for the entire nation and people.

Liberia is a nation of 15 counties and people of many ethnic groups. A blend of these groups now make up the 16th county in the Diaspora...400,000 Liberians, according to the Liberian Embassy in Washington, DC.

The war has messed us up and divided us to the point of self destruction. We really need to change course and focus on the future of Liberia. All of us need to fight the common enemy of corruption and misuse of power. Those who now think that one group of Liberians is more patriotic than the other should think twice. What is more unpatriotic than killing people who are not of your ethnic group? What is more unpatriotic than bringing chaos to a people all because of greed and self promotion?

Sometimes I wish those who brought hell and nightmare to Liberia would just shut up and pray for peace and reconciliation and stop exacerbating our problems. They have already misled us. How competent can they be to advise us again?

I woke up at 5:05 am this morning in the epicenter of a 3.6 earthquake. The house shook and rattled. I woke up and thought to myself, this must be an earthquake. Had it been 6.6 or 7.6, I would be speaking with my mom who died many moons ago. Now that I am still here with those who experienced the same jolt, I will continue to express my gut feelings about the evil that many brought to Liberia.

I am not supposed to be experiencing earthquakes or the slipping and movement of the earth plates!