I am one of the few people who do not love to watch TV series—simply because I believe you can spend over 100 valuable hours watching a single TV series when you could have watched 50 full real cinema movies, which goes a long way to support and give relevance to the dying theatre culture.
Though I did not bow to the pressures of Prison Break, earlier this year, countless people kept asking me about ‘Game of Thrones’ which somewhat has become a subject of discussion when you meet people for a drink or even a business meeting. So I joined the ‘Game of Thrones’ addicts (a mild addict though) putting hours of my time into watching it every weekend.
Like most TV series, ‘Game of Thrones’ is highly addictive with interesting characters capable of buying your conscience. Before you know, you would have fallen in love with what a character stands for, his or her family and their take on developments. But don’t forget what comes after—the heartbreaking moment when your favourite gets killed or thrown into jail is inevitable. After all, when you play the ‘Game of Thrones’, you either win or die…
In the ‘Game of Thrones’, one of the great houses of the seven Kingdoms is called ‘House Lannister of Casterly Rock’—whose mainseat is Casterly Rock, with another stationed in nearby Lannisport. A person from this great house is called a ‘Lannister’ and the Lannisters’ official motto is ‘Hear Me Roar’.
However, they also have an equally well known unofficial motto which is ‘a Lannister always pays his debts’. It is this motto and the great upshot it brings that I believe every Ghanaian can learn from.
As a Ghanaian, what are you known for? Are you known to keep your promise, are you known to be a person of honour—and do you actually care about your own reputation, that of your family or friends?
Mostly, our desire for instant gratification, undeserving instantaneous success among others things pushes us into forgetting the great or bad benefits—now and later, that having any sort of reputation can fetch us…
What does the Lannisters have along this line? They have a great reputation for honouring their debts and this attribute continues to ‘save their butts’—near and far.
In one of the episodes of ‘Game of Thrones’, Tyrion Lannister was captured by a noble member of a rival house who took him far away as her prisoner…
As they say, good name is better than riches, even in a far away prison and without any money (gold or silver) on him, Tyrion Lannister was able to break a deal with the prison warder, promising him some amount of gold if he did him a particular favour.
And when the warder was in doubt as to if it is worth helping a man who you do not know but says he will pay you in the future, Tyrion Lannister threw in their house’s well known motto-‘A Lannisters Always Pays His Debts’,adding that he is a Lannister and of course he will honour his debt. At the end of it all, he really did pay his debt to this man—a true Lannister indeed.
Do most Ghanaians really care about their reputation? Most of us Ghanaians seem to have said and locked it at the back of our minds that, we don’t really care about what people think about us—forgetting that even when you are in trouble, what you are known for or what people think about you can either secure your release or your death.
Let’s look at our sisters and brothers in Nigeria, when you mention Nigeria to a person, unfortunately, the person will often start thinking about FRAUD. So imagine being that honest Nigerian looking to do business with a foreigner with a reputation that is equal to fraud. By default, you’ve been branded a fraudster and you have to do some good convincing…
You do not have to watch ‘Game of Thrones’ but remember that in life, it is always good to be known for something and make sure you are known for honour, truth, known for something great such as keeping promises just like the Lannisters, because you never know when the acceptance or refusal of your promise will be the determining factor of the success of your business or even whether you will live or not.
Since promises play vital roles in our daily dealings, make sure you have a good standing in that area so that when it matters most, you will be known as a man or woman of honour who always honour his or her promise—and therefore, your promise will be worthy of acceptance…
Never ignore the far reaching consequences that a good or a bad reputation can fetch you, your family or your people. Like I always say, the ‘Febiris always say the truth’.
Hope people read and understand. being honest is key.
Liked the article…but you coulda left out the Nigerian bit. Been doing business in Ghana for 8 years strong and it would surprise you to know who expats in general that live here rather do business with because of their forthrightness and tenacity….ask 20 if you think I’m shitting you.
I used the Nigerian example because of the ‘bad name’ created by some minority of Nigerians for the entire population—to show how good or bad reputation have near or future consequences…
Am not really interested in the article, am all for GOT and Tyrion, next sunday seems too long to come. Can’t wait to know what happens to my favourite character, Tyrion Lannister.
Yeah I love Tyrion too but there is wisdom in the article so be interested as a Ghanaian lol. Tyrion is too intelligent to die so they should leave his head alone
Tyrion will escape
Chris, I can kiss you right now for this article. I am a Game of Thrones addict and I lvoe the Lannisters too especially Tyrion . The Lannisters have a reputation to protect and they care about that so they always pay their debts.
Some of Ghanaians only care about today and not tomorrow so we will receive some money to tell and sell our conscience and honor for peanuts