The story is the same, all great men passed through affliction. There were sunny days and there were wet days, and sometimes it looked as if all the stars in the firmament ranged in opposition against them. The truth is that it was not always so, it was just a learning curve, an opportunity to internalize and recalibrate. For even the brightest moon sometimes hides its luminosity behind a wanton cloud. Such down moments also provide an opportunity for self-examination of the choices one made. As Shakespeare would say “the abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power. ”
No truly great man is beyond self reproach, least wise regret. Napoleon Bonaparte, Hannibal, Hitler, Churchill, Lincoln, Kennedy, Julius Caesar, Alexander the great, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, even Christ Jesus regretted at some point upon careful rumination of the journey of their lives. Tickets come, tickets go. Sometimes we are favoured and sometimes we are not. We must therefore accept our wins and our losses with philosophical equanimity, knowing that when we were favoured, once upon a time, other people had to go home and knash their teeth in pain, but in silence. Because it is important that we thank God for the opportunity to be selected once, or twice or thrice.
I cannot point out the reason why some of those who were in the legislature were left out, because I didn’t see much wrong that they did, since like Mahatma Ghandi, “I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others “. What is crystal clear to me is that they were in the legislature in the first place because they got lucky and are now out because they ran out of luck and some people else got lucky, like musical chairs. See? Maybe the ones going in now might be worse than the ones being shown the way out, we don’t know. Didn’t Abraham Lincoln quip that “nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power”. We wait to see, only then can we judge.
Our politics mimics the Russian roulette game. There is usually only one bullet in the entire revolver chamber, when they hit bull’s eye you die, when they hit an empty chamber you triumph and prosper, but someone is always going to go down. The mafia morale will tell you, it’s not personal, ‘it was only business’. Sadly, this is the business we have chosen for ourselves. It is what it is. Shouldn’t we be prepared for the consequences of our choice, by keeping an everlasting broad mind about our career trajectory?
There is really no excruciating loss at the end when one looses a political position because, by Jove, they are also healed of the pressure we put on them, insane pressure that could leave one with a permanent migraine that can only be healed by regaining one’s individuality. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance” These timeless words uttered by Roosevelt define the need to press on, in spite of perceived defeat because in the real world everyone is a failure and a success at the same time.
The Central Senatorial Zone stands tall today as it has always stood, in the comity of senatorial zones – thanks to the great peace making effort of the Deputy Governor, His Excellency, Peter Odey, who I must salute with a curt bow. We are a great people, disparate though we may be. Bonded by our pursuit of excellence, incredible hard work and generosity of spirit. It is in historical circumstances such as this that Churchill chuckled that “Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts “.
To the victorious I must advise them to embrace all who come to them, it is not a great political quality to always remember the hurt, let the past go with the struggle. What they need the most at this time, as Obol Nnana Arikpo once told me, “is Integrity, empathy, accountability, clear communication and strategic vision”. And now, let the Central heal, and in healing match forward as one, into a brighter future that holds forth the great promise of Cross River and the looming responsibility that is ultimately ours to bear, and then to savour.
@KIDZU writes from Bunyia Irruan.
Disclaimer: The opinion expressed in this article is strictly that of the author, Dominic Kidzu, and does not represent Theluminenews, its agent or the organisation the author works for/with