Sunday, October 2, 2016

Time To Be Different



Dear lovely people,

It was Samson’s first day at work as a newly appointed Director at the Ministry of Health. He was excited and motivated to change things, to set a new pace and to get things happening. One evening just six months later, a disconsolate Samson got home to his waiting wife. His wife had noticed earlier that each passing month left the once radiant Samson the more deflated. That evening, she decided she was going to dig to the bottom of this sudden turn of things. Coincidentally, Samson had had it to the brim and was ready to spill it out.

Samson met a disheartening showdown at the Ministry than he could have ever imagined. He realized the Ministry was filled up every day by health workers from all corners of the country who spent a lot of time chasing advancement files than doing the work in the field for which they are paid. The Ministry personnel on their part have made things unbearable. For every action taken on a file, it must be monetized. People shamelessly asked for payment to do the work for which they are already paid by the state and so the level of corruption has gone deep into their bone marrows.

One day, Samson was completely thrown out of himself. He found out that a file he would normally handle in less than an hour, his colleague did in two months after extorting a heavy sum of money from the file owner. Ministry staff where capable of keeping a worker’s file for as long as a year without treating it if the benefactor did not bribe them and they cared the least if the worker has to come to the Ministry every single day for follow-up. This alone was a nightmare to Samson and drained his energy.

At one point, Samson had critical financial difficulties and badly needed. So many bills to pay and other urgent family issues to handle but he had nothing. He was in his office one afternoon when a man walked in and proposed a huge sum of money in order for Samson to speed up work on his file. It happened to be a file Samson was sure to complete before close of business that day. In his own words he says, “I was stunned. I looked him in the eyes and told him to leave my office then I rushed into my office restroom. I looked at myself in the mirror, tears were coursing down my cheeks, I spoke to the ‘me’ in the mirror 'you can be different', you don't have to be like them'. I washed my face off and returned to the office. The man was gone”

It made all the difference. It was an epiphany that struck at a very ungodly moment. Samson took a decision never to be involved in any act of corruption and to openly decry any corrupt act around him. His unbending determination and widely acclaimed action made the Minister of Health to appoint him to a prestigious position as Chair of an Intra-Ministerial Anti-corruption Committee. He was equally to sit on the board of the National Anti-Corruption Commission set up by the President of the Republic.

Trust me, Samson became successful in life and never felt the need to condone corrupt practices around him that were damaging to other people. He could be himself. The rancor bubbling in the eyes of some of his colleagues towards him for putting things straight was far less than the pain in his soul back at the time when he would condone their corrupt practices.  

Samson says he will live to remember that brief moment he spent in his office restroom and the powerful self-affirmation he made - 'you can be different', you don't have to be like them'.

In all that you do and no matter the circumstances you find yourself in, you can truly be different.

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