The need for progress

I don’t like these tales of excellence in the past, the moors who took Spain, Mansa Musa, Timbuktu, the Benin empire, the Oyo empire, and all of these things which can be summarized as “We used to be great”. That’s the issue — used! It’s not enough that we were, at least not for me. It’s paramount that we are!

Mental effort is the scarcest resource of all, far more valuable than money, and we must use it wisely, since our time is brief. Yes, we were violated, and the stories of past excellence helped liberate us mentally. But that medicine has run its course. Now we must build. Let us draw inspiration not from what was, but from what could be.

With the benefit of knowing we are capable of excellence and the fear of knowing what happens when we’re not great (I don’t think we’re afraid enough of what mediocrity means as a nation. But that’s a topic for another day), we’ll forge a nation, a people, a culture that can withstand the vicissitudes of history. But that’s if we apply ourselves wholeheartedly to that purpose. Excellence is never easy, but we have no choice.

A big roadblock to our excellence is and will be culture. Because Westerners harassed us, there is a tendency to want to keep everything about ourselves the same (More so in the older generation than younger), and because of our current situation, there is a tendency to disregard everything about us as regressive (More so in the young than old). Both these extremes are wrong — we must learn the best habits of the world while keeping our roots.

Look to the East for proof. Japan, China, Korea — these peoples have endured sieges, wars, anarchy, colonization, plagues, and yet have remained nations, even civilizations. They’ve also learnt western technology and science, while largely remaining Asian in values. We can do the same, and we must.

Why us? “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace” - Thomas Pain

As always, I’ll sign out with a poem

A life well lived—
that is all I wish.
I know what it needs:
a strength from within,
to choose, again and again, In every minute, every second,
greatness—
for a man’s life is made of his choices.