Every time I go through my Facebook wall, I see some statuses that get me to the verge of depression. It is truly sad to see some kind of behavior being celebrated among the youth of Ghana. One of such statuses read as;

“I wanted to buy pure water but the seller who run up to me was wearing an NDC wristband so I ignored her”

It is also not surprising when these same people turn around and accuse the government of Corruption and Nepotism in the Country. If you cant even buy something as simple as pure water from someone struggling to make a living just because of difference in political ideology, then how are you any better than a corrupt government official?

Day in day out, we are faced with situations whereby instead of taking a stand and making a difference, we rather inadvertently deepen some of the woes we face as a nation.

I was renewing my passport a few months ago and after getting to the passport office, I was told that I had to make a payment to the bank for my passport fees. Thinking that was all I needed to do, I went back to the passport office only to realize that if I did not settle some people, I might as well forget about getting my passport on time. I didn’t even think twice about it and proceeded to pay the money. My passport processing was then handled smoothly.

After the incident, I came to a realization that I was part of the problems we faced in Ghana. By paying that amount, I was encouraging the guys at the passport office to continue their deeds, after all they had a willing market. What if I, and the many others who thronged the passport office had refused to pay any extra money aside the official transaction fee? Surely with time, the practice of taking money from people to have their passports processed in time would stop.

We see a lot of Ghanaian celebrities donating to charity. Their actions have surprisingly been met with skepticism from some people on social media. The motives of these celebrities are always questioned and some people go as far as criticizing the value of goods given out. The question I always ask myself when I see comments like those is ‘What have you done yourself to help the less privileged in the society?”.

My belief is that no matter how little you have, you can always part with some to make life better for someone else, and it doesn’t have to be monetary. So instead of sitting down and waiting for someone to do something, you can actually take that step. Volunteer to teach in the local school in your neighborhood. Organize a cleaning exercise at the market nearby.  Offer to pay the trotro fare of the school boy sitting by you. It is in these little acts that we get to grow as people and eventually become useful citizens of Ghana.

Like it is always said, be the change that you seek!