Back in our secondary school days in POJOSS, we had a reverend sister, Sr. Cecilia. She was the no-nonsense kind. She would severely punish us in all righteousness and thereafter counsel us in all holiness.

When one of us was sleeping in class because they probably misspent the previous night on frivolous activities, she would sanctimoniously walk to him and plant a gracious knock on his head, “You can’t cheat nature!”

Decades after walking out of that prestigious boys’ school, I still have this priceless advice engraved on my mind ? you can never cheat nature.

In education, you can’t cheat nature. In politics, you can’t cheat nature. In your marriage/relationship, you can’t ever cheat nature! Some call it karma. Others call it the Golden Rule ? do unto others just as you expect to be done to you. What you sow, definitely you’ll reap. You can’t sow maize and expect to harvest cocoa in return. You can’t plant tomato during the day and expect to reap cassava at night.

I read the disheartening drama that unfolded recently at St. Joseph’s Orthopedic Hospital, Koforidua, where patients who were supposed to undergo free knee and hip replacement surgery by a foreign medical charity were reportedly ripped off by their own Ghanaian doctors. I sighed. I bowed my head in shame.

It’s sad we have grown up to assume the politician is the worst disaster that ever happened to us as a people. Notably, the politician might be worse… but not the worst. Corruption knows no profession. Greed has no gender.

Those wrecking this nation are Ghanaians? not foreigners. Our nation is still stuck in this mess of little mindedness and unthinkable poverty because of you… and me. If we live right, we won’t have to go begging at the doorstep of the other side of the world for our daily bread.

Close your eyes. Take an imagination. Just imagine there are many of your kind in this nation. Would Ghana still be retrogressing… instead of progressing? Imagine there are a thousand of you. Would Ghana still be pettily voting based on who’s short… and who’s not? Just imagine. If everyone in this nation thought and acted like you did, would we be any better? Open your eyes. If a nation of only your kind won’t progress, change!

If only we knew we couldn’t cheat nature, we would have acted more responsibly as a people. What we are today is exactly a reflection of what our forefathers sowed. And… what our children are going to be tomorrow is going to be an exact reflection of what we are sowing today!

Karma would always win. What you plant, you shall reap. When you, for instance, smuggle WASSCE/BECE questions to be sold for a peanut, be reminded that karma would always win. That seed you have sown will bloom into a harvest of half-baked professionals today who would unprofessionally sign your death warrant tomorrow. That doctor who may treat you in your old age may be a product. That nurse, too. And… because you helped smuggle them through life, they would gladly help smuggle you to death! You can’t cheat nature.

Don’t be in haste to demand money for a responsibility you’re paid for. Before you do so, think. Someone may do this to you or maybe a close relation even when their lives are at stake. The bribery attitude, though in your closet, may just cost you so badly tomorrow. What goes up definitely will come down. If you throw ‘small’ greed up, greed in a greater magnitude will come down upon you!

Science calls it gravity. It is a simple law of nature. If you throw anything up, it should come down to you. If you throw good up, good will come down to you. If you throw corruption and self-defined smartness up, same will come down to you. It is that simple.

Think before you carelessly handle government property. Be wary when you discharge your duties as a public servant with no sense of responsibility. Before you waste resources in that office, be reminded that a seed of carelessness will sprout into a fruit of joblessness. Today, the facility you are misusing won’t last long enough to provide your children employment tomorrow. Karma will always win.

You can’t ever cheat nature. Today, it may seem smart to bloat those figures. But remember… someone else who may provide a service to you may bloat their expenses and smartly take from you, too. This karma will always win. Wealth amassed through dubious means will be lost through dubious means. Nature will definitely take from you what you deceptively took from others.

It is not smart to hoard what belongs to others. To deny others their privilege is not politics. It is ignorance. If we knew that just as we denied others what they were due, others will deny ours too, we definitely would have worn our morality mentality each day. If only we knew karma would catch up with us soon, we may have lived every bit of our lives more responsibly.

If a thrown ball will always come down, it goes without saying that what we do to others, others will do to us. If we disrespect our president and fellow Ghanaians, the same magnitude of disrespect would be slammed in our face sooner or later. It is a simple law of nature which can’t be cheated on.

Karma is like a protagonist in a drama. Everyone else may have their way in the beginning but… it would always win the end. Before you smuggle that ballot box away this December, ask yourself, “What if karma wins in this drama?” And I bet you… it will definitely win. You can cheat everyone but nature.

The writer is a playwright and the Chief Scribe of Scribe Communications, a writing company in Accra. (www.scribecommltd.com). His upcoming play this September is #MyWifeInLaw