This article has not given itself to me easily, it has
been hard to find ‘time’ to write it although I completely agreed on how
important it was to write it. So let us cut straight to the chase, Tetteh
Quashie overhead. As though the name Tetteh Quashie is not synonymous to some
glory in Ghana, there is chaos breeding under his memorial just around the Accra
Mall.
A homeless man lives right under the bridge. It will
appear, without professing to be the best judge of mental sanity (as I have a
mirror), that, the man is Non Compos Mentis; incapable of a coherent life. This
article was inspired when I saw him eating one evening on my way from work. He
was just putting food in his mouth, and I was the driver right in front of him,
in the queue on the Spanner-Shiashe side of the traffic, as the traffic is
almost every evening.
I reasoned, all we all want is perhaps, a good meal at the
end of the day, some warmth and then of course a good sleep. Again, it appears
he cooks under the bridge and feast there, alone, in the cold. I have seen him
a number of times after that day, but almost always feeling helpless and asking
what can I do to help this man. Well as a writer, I write about him.
I am not oblivious of the many who live on the street;
children, mentally derailed, physically disabled persons as well as fully abled
persons who have been driven to the street by poverty. Some I most certainly
can guess, live not very different from this my friend under the bridge, let us
call him John Doe for the purposes of this article.
I imagine how John sleeps at night. John perhaps dreams of
a completely beautiful Ghana, where the troubled like himself can dream of a
home where they can hope to be fully integrated into a regular life. Before
John sleeps, he may pray and ask God to protect him so no one runs into his ‘shelter’
by accident. He may even say the Lord’s prayer and cry, “Let your kingdom come
on earth as it is in heaven.”
I do not know what John wakes up to, let’s assume John
goes about begging for coins, that at the end of the day, he may have a warm
meal and a restful sleep. John sleeps under the relics of a glorious cocoa
legacy; a busy road full of fantastic cars and people. And yes talking about
amazing people, Christians and Religious alike. Never forget VISION2020 is the
year of National Cathedrals. So let’s start from the place of faith as I talk
about my friend, John - The Good Samaritan Experiment.
In the early 1970s, on the campus of Princeton University,
two behavioral scientists, John Darley and Daniel Batson, were interested in
studying the psychology of prosocial behavior. They asked the question; why do
people do good things for others? To examine this question, they decided to
study students at the Princeton Theological Seminary: students who were
studying to be priests.
The researchers set up an epic study. Across three days in
late Fall, they had a bunch of seminary students come to a building, meet with
a researcher, and fill out a bunch of surveys. The surveys partly addressed if
the students were religious primarily for intrinsic or for extrinsic reasons
(with “intrinsic reasons” being like “I am motivated to do good in the world”
and “extrinsic reasons” being like “I really want to get into Heaven.”). Then
the participants were told that they needed to prepare a brief talk about the
Good Samaritan from the Bible—which is a story about how a helpless victim on
the side of the road was just passed by from a bunch of holy individuals—while
a non-holy Samaritan took the time to stop and help the fellow out.
Participants of the research were all told that they
needed to walk to a nearby building to meet up with another member of the team
and then to give their sermon. Then comes the fun part. The situation was
rigged—and all participants found a fallen ‘stranger’ in a narrow alleyway. The
“stranger” was really a key part of the research—and his role was to seem sick
on the ground and in need of help. The catch was that the alleyway was only
four feet across … so to not help this guy, you had to step over him! I will
tell you the results to conclude but let me lay down my hopes and aspiration
for our nation and the continent as vision 2020 appears to have expired.
- That we shall define for ourselves an identity which is
enduring, progressive and one of leadership.
- That we will treasure curiosity and learning above all
things and remember for lack of knowledge my people indeed do perish.
- That we will appreciate the value of human life and
respect each other genuinely.
- That we will not seek to bring each other down as our
proverbial ‘PHD’ but seek to create a society that uplifts each other, firmly
holding each other with chants of Ubuntu.
- That our cultural default will be kindness and
beneficence, truly treasuring little acts of kindness.
- That we will protect the vulnerable, weak, defenseless as
that is the highest form of worship
007. That we will understand religiosity does not guarantee a
productive or progressive society but such things as law, social awareness,
wisdom and a commitment to do our job as though we do it unto the Lord.
8. That we will believe in ourselves, dream of a beautiful world
we can create out of diligence, vision and a clear strategy, seeking to be the
difference daily and yes singing Uhuru.
9. That we may prosper and be in good health as our soul
prospers
10. That we may think and do only that which is noble, right,
pure, lovely, excellent and praiseworthy.
So back to the Princeton Theological Seminary, the
conclusion of the study showed that, dispositional factors had no bearing
on helping behavior. In other
words, people who reported as religious for intrinsic reasons were no more
likely than others were to stop to help. This study has such dramatic
implications for what it means to be human. First off, the overall amount of
“helping” was low - with MOST (60% of) participants being, actually, NOT
willing to help the “victim.” This is, of course, ironic, because the
participants were, Princeton students studying to be priests and about
to give a talk on the lessons of the Good Samaritan from the Bible!
As it turns out, simple-seeming situational factors such as, whether one
was in a hurry or not, played the dominant role in determining what that person
would do in the research. The bottom line remains, no society can count on the good
heart of citizen to fulfill John’s prayer to God. If God’s kingdom may come on
earth and VISION2020 will not be concert-party, then we have to remember and
hold on fast to 007.
So what I ask is not for some generosity for John but to
simply ask someone to wake up (for all the unchristian French, I can’t write in
this article) and do their job. It takes the created institutions of state to
fulfill prayers and dreams, people paid every month to intervene and implement
social goods, so before someone reaches to be kind to John, which we should by
all means, someone should tell the head of whoever is responsible for the Ghana
National Social Protection Policy to act to stop this dysfunction.
As I conclude, I dare ask yet again; who is the head of
the social welfare structure and I hope he/she does not use that stretch of
Accra and yes, there is a law in Ghana about the rights of children and mental
health people. So during Christmas, let these families of the people paid to
their jobs enjoy the Fanta and Chicken, let us all eat Jollof and be busy about
a year of return as John feasts on crumbs under a bridge lonely and completely
forgotten; let us all enjoy the warmth of Christmas and by all means let not
remember John, for after all, he is but a poor John Doe.
