RE: Rawlings And The Making Of Bishop Obinnim

Checking out for latest news on Ghana on April 19, 2016, I came across the article bearing the above title published on another news website. I was drawn to it out of curiosity; I asked myself, what could the author be talking about judging from the title?

The author, Mr. James Kofi Annan, the President of Challenging Heights is someone I sincerely admire particularly because of his unique life story, tenacity and his contribution to our nation in terms of social justice.

I have been reading his articles lately and I feel he has a positive message for the youth of our dear nation. But in his latest article, some issues he raised rattled my conscience based upon which I felt obliged to write this rejoinder.

In the article, the author began by providing a synopsis of Bishop Obinim’s recent escapades and subsequent backlashes it has attracted in the country. The author went on to admit that, in spite of the backlashes, Bishop Obinim is actually winning because of his strong self-belief and never-give up spirit.

As a result, he deduced some lessons from Bishop Obinim’s winning ways which he suggested that readers can learn from them. Among the lessons include self-belief, perseverance, remaining ambitious and passionate about your dreams. I have no problem with these virtues; I actually approve them and desire to have more of them in my own life. However, in the context in which they were presented in the article, the author essentially seem to subscribe to the old cliché that “the end justifies the means”.

My conclusion is based on some points raised by the author such as “everything is ok, provided that all these okness comes with passion, energy and never-giving-up spirit”. There is no such thing as bad situation. The only bad situation is death in oneself, physical death and death to ambition.

“Once you remain alive to your life, [keep] your ambitions, if you don’t give up, you will live through the confusion and emerge as a fine testimony of your own character.” On the surface, the above lessons sound ideal and harmless. But pondering over them a bit more, I could hardly swallow them as they do not square well with reality or the normal human experience as the average Ghanaian and myself see it and much more in the author’s worldview as a Methodist Christian.

Self-belief and dreams are good principles but they must be nurtured within the confines of ethics and morality. If people are allowed to pursue whatever dream or belief they may have, society will soon cease to exist. Certain personal aspirations as history shows us, are terribly harmful to the well-being of society. That is why every known stable society has rules and regulations. The Ghanaian society, be it traditional or contemporary is governed by rules and regulations. As a nation, we consciously and subconsciously appreciate values like justice, integrity, decency, courtesy, self-restraint, honesty and hard work.

That is why the majority of the people in the country continue to condemn deviant behaviors such as exhibited by Bishop Obinim. This is one reason why I believe moral relativism is simply a fantasy. As human beings, we are essentially hard-wired (be it biologically, morally or socially) to decipher between right and wrong. It is basically a daily routine for every mentally stable human being to make decisions and pass judgments on issues.

In light of these facts, our passions, aspirations, ambitions and self-belief, regardless of their intensity, must align with one of the fundamental principles of life which is the acknowledgment that every human life has value, dignity, and purpose. If one’s self-belief in a dream, irrespective of how strong or relentless it is, falls short of this basic principle of life, is not beneficial to society. The unrestrained pursuit of certain dreams in our society can be directly linked to the many ills we see all around us.

Furthermore, I personally believe the author meant well by urging the youth to believe strongly in themselves and also pursue their ambitions with all fervency. Nevertheless, we must not be negligent of the fact that, certain ambitions are destructive. For example, the unrestrained pursuit of success and greatness among some of our youth have led them into things like “Sakawa”, Internet fraud deals and stow aways with their related horrible outcomes.

Some have also metamorphosed into pastors, spiritualists and even politicians as means to realize their dreams in the quickest possible way. In fact, some have pursued these dreams with such fervor without any regards to their conscience and basic human decency. Some of the end results are what the author perfectly enumerated in his article.

In conclusion, I quote the words of the wise man, Solomon, “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12, the Holy Bible). There are many ways men follow in life towards “success”, but there is only one way that actually gets you to true success. What is true success if it is not the fulfillment of purpose?

And what is purpose if it is not the original intent of the creator/maker/inventor? Christ, the creator of all things (Colossians 1:16) pinned down the purpose of man as loving God and loving his or her fellow human being (Matthew 22:36-39). Everything in life essentially hinges on this principle.

So, to anyone ready to rise up in pursuit of his dreams or ambitions, the import of this article is, first consider the ultimate purpose of your dreams and ambitions. In other words, why do you want to achieve such dreams? Do they square with the ultimate purpose of life as the Creator sees it? Subjecting our dreams to such a test can help us realize that, not all things are ok just because they are birthed out of passion, energy and relentless spirit.