Joshua Sheqi
There is no one righteous, not even one: Romans 3:10
As I attempt to share my thought, I would persuade your positive analysis to go beyond what can be written. I would rather be honest in my observation than to act wise, of which I am not. If you would agree with me, your Barack Obama is different from mine, because we all see the same thing with a different understanding. A simple villager would rate you the way he see you to the extent of frustrating your intellect, so would you and I do the same thing to the one 10 times wiser! In other words, you and I are no better in a pig’s eyes!
Why do we say; “I know it’s wrong but I am doing it”?! ‘A person who knows what is right and wrong, but still continues to do wrong, definitely is a person of knowledge, but not of wisdom’. Please take a pause here and think; share my observation and try to critically agree with me! Lord Tennyson said we humans are half a beast; but a beast with reasoning ability!
If I have to point fingers at anyone, I guess I would start with me, as you would, but taking advantage over imperfect human nature and so called adjustments, our Naga people have crossed the limit. We mostly talk about corruption at the top level; today let’s have a look at the other side of the coin; i.e. the villagers, common people and educated or uneducated youths. Let’s make an attempt to find out who is stainless Naga, besides the self professed righteous ones!
The so called yesteryears
Village Heritage:
a. The Naga villages boasts about the good practices of yesterday as though it was a utopian era, where honesty, integrity, respect, simplicity, justice, loyalty, hospitality, truth, etc, etc prevailed. An overt embellishment of the past, putting to shame the Christian values of today, as though Christianity has brought all the unwanted selfish practices of today! That who profess on the top of the roof, fools the public and make maximum benefit for themselves in the confusion of the poor public.
b. In my association with YouthNet, as part of the team have traveled a considerable number of Naga villages spreading the importance of RTI and crosschecking the information received for authentication. Unsurprisingly, 90% of the information we received about development works are either non-existent or much below the expected standard. Schools doesn’t receive half of what they are due to get from Midday Meal Scheme, the DIS office enjoy at the cost of the children, but also from the meager amount/quota received doesn’t reach the children properly, thus punishing the innocent children further for no fault of theirs!! Except few, most of the Health Centers are either non-functional or like a cowshed!
The village council, which is the custodian of development and law and order in the village, is worst than the daily condemned and cursed politicians; thank God they are not our MLAs/Ministers! After much deduction of the so called non-existent VIPs quota what little is left for the poor villagers vanishes at the village leaders level. At present the most beautiful scheme for the villagers is NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme). The custodians of the villagers seems to be doing a fine job, because we are hearing a lot of silent grumbles and whining below the surface level, all over Nagaland.
Having so much faith in the overtly glorified village administration system in Nagaland, communitization was introduced to improve the education system, health standard, PHE and Electricity. Apart from an exceptional village like Sapotimi village, under Sürühuto sub-division, Zünheboto district and places we have not visited, most of the poor villagers in Nagaland are now reeling under the pressure of communitisation. The so called simple villagers (including village leaders) who are said to be honest and trustworthy are blinded by few thousand rupees.
Common people:
The common people in the villages have lost faith both in the village leaders and politicians who are supposed to work for their welfare. There is a saying a child crab walks exactly the way the parent crabs walk, so also the Naga villagers have become money mongers. There is a common belief of the simple villagers that they will get nothing after the elections, so they look for an opportunity to sell their vote to the highest bidder or sell to both or as many parties contesting! Getting money without doing work is being harvested. Hallelujah!
Youths:
a. Educated youths: There is a little shift of mental attitude of the Naga youths as we observe the recent development. However, still majority of the educated youths are waiting for government jobs, not with the intention to serve the public but to be served! A human (man or woman) is born to serve humanity, not to be served. It is the educated Naga youths who are the stumbling blocks to developing Nagaland to the greater level, at par with the advanced or advancing world. Youth Employment Summit, a global youth campaign which is spearheaded by youths from the developing nations believes that youths are not the leaders of tomorrow, but of today. If you and I are waiting to be leaders tomorrow and doing nothing today, tomorrow stands to be worse! My apologies to good ones, however no mercy to those who still think class ten pass or any degree you and I have cleared has made you and me a royal! It is not the educational qualification you and I have acquired. If I may quote Mr. Theja Meru, a highly enterprising Naga youth, after his visit to South Korea sponsored by the government of Nagaland, I asked him what striking lesson he learnt from the visit, he said; “In South Korea the highest to the lowest job is done by the Koreans themselves; people have more respect for each others job (big or small) and the South Koreans thanks God for the two hands”. No wonder most of us can speak and write better English than most Koreans, but keeps our hands jobless!
b. Uneducated youths and drop outs: In my personal opinion I attribute the maximum problem by drop outs and uneducated youths in our society to leaders, whose craving for big money without much work has blinded our innocent youths. The educated youths are not far behind, because we also have the same craving as that of our predecessors, who are also our present leaders.
Who is to blame? Corruption has become a culture, and now even cultural and traditional values of yesteryears are hell-bent to protect it! Why do we talk much about yesterday’s good culture and tradition when the one who is shouting from the top of the roof like the Pharisee is not following, but bending it to his own convenience and interpretation?
We talk about change, but still expect someone to do it! Real change is spontaneous; it has to come out from within one-self and not through others. Eg- Jesus himself couldn’t change His own people because they didn’t believe! Remember ‘free-will’ has been given unto man from the day of creation. When Jesus did miracle works He said; “Your faith has healed you”.
Man is a social being; this means we don’t exist for ourselves but for others. If you live thinking only about your own privilege and want to live luxuriously at the expense of the suffering of others, you better go and live in a place where human beings don’t exist! Social disharmony, killings, corruption, separatism, all sorts of isms, etc are all the result of selfishness to protect ones pride and ego. Dwight D. Eisenhower said; “A people that values privileges above its principles soon loses both”. Now, should we still be pointing fingers at others, throwing stones at others, blaming others, etc or should we realize now that the society/human race doesn’t exist for an individual, but you and I exist to serve the society? No one is stainless, because it is also wrong to keep silent when you know the truth!
Today, a good number of Naga youths; confident, educated, exposed, hardworking, determined and ambitious are coming up to work tirelessly in their discipline to change Nagaland. Let me quote; “If you want to go a step higher lift the people around you each step you gain”.
Who is a social worker/developer:
A man or woman who is sincerely doing his/her works wherever he/she is assigned and is bearing fruit is a real social worker, not the one who shouts and does nothing. You and I doesn’t have to stand on a public platform to become a society developer or social worker, because it is not occasional rain that fills the ocean, but the constant little drops of water that makes the mighty ocean; if you are good at household chores and kitchen-works, at best you are also a social worker/developer. It is for all of us to note that work is worship, which is only next to God, because the book of Genesis has written, we have to sweat from our head to toe for a living.
I asked a highly respected and established Naga professional, why we have so much corruption? He said; “We have many leaders, but less statesman”! Only the leaders of today (youths) can challenge the corrupted system which is averse to all round development. If the youths of today cannot, nobody can. Are you in? I’m in!
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