First Gentleman with Wilson Orhiunu
Email: babawill2000@gmail.com Twitter: @Babawilly
Take a picture of the earth from space and you will see a world without boundaries. Nature has its own way of separating land masses with water but man has politics. There is political geography devised by man for a more profitable life. Every part of the earth has been carved up into a country and these specific regions harbour people who share a specific national identity.
However, over time some citizens begin to resent their own national identity and start to distance themselves. Just as some family members might stretch their necks and comment on how the grass is greener on the other side, so do citizens of nations raise telescopes to their eyes and wish for citizenship of a distant, better land over the seas. A country once your own, can be disowned. This action can be taken while living in that same country. The body resides on the land but the heart is miles away.
Some might even wish to carve out a new country within an existing country where they hope all their dreams will come true; a sort of El Dorado thinking. Many countries have sections of the population seeking a republic within a republic. Then, there are those of a spiritual disposition who seek out a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. While maintaining the national identity and the rights and privileges of the country they adopt a “passing through’ mind-set to the country and the world at large. Like Jim Reeves, they sing “this world is not my home, I am just passing through”.
Disillusionment produces that loss of belonging one might feel towards the motherland. When expectations are repeatedly met with painful disappointment, hope is the first casualty. Those who travel abroad might not want to be reminded of where they come from. They may adopt new accents and customs which help to forge a new sense of identity. For some, alteration of physical features by way of plastic surgery and ‘skin toning’ helps with realising that new identity. Well, that is till they have a baby and good old DNA kicks in to ensure a baby comes out with the nose and skin tone that can only be gotten from the motherland. New passports and addresses have little effect on DNA which follows people everywhere like a shadow.
Some have enjoyed ‘a new identity’ for many years and lived happily till illness came knocking. The requirement for a bone marrow transplant is sourcing potential donors from fellow countrymen. It is impossible to disown the DNA.
Being ashamed of where one comes from is not new. The actions of leaders have infuriated citizens since the world began. The same happens in families. Deplorable actions by parents have led children to change their names and distance themselves from family. This same family that are the best potential organ donors should a transplant be needed. It might have been better if the facility existed to walk in and have a DNA change. Tired of being French? Walk into the store, lie on the couch and have your genetics changed to that of an Angolan.
Rather than cosmetic make-up, why can’t we have biological make-up? Why spend time in hair salons generating long hair when the genes for long hair could be given in a genetic augmentation centre?
There might be some merits in man’s inability to run away from his DNA. For one, poor countries have not been emptied by everyone changing genetically and emigrating. People who will never change the football team they support will seek to change nationality before you can say Jack Robinson’s passport.
Some high profile people have refused national awards from their countries in protest to how their country has acted on some fundamental issues which were close to their heart.
John Lennon famously had this letter delivered to Buckingham Palace on 25-11-1969
Your Majesty,
I am returning my MBE as a protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against ‘Cold Turkey’s slipping down the charts.
With love,
John Lennon of Bag
Professor Chinua Achebe turned down the CFR (Commander of the Federal Republic) award in November 2011 citing corruption in the country as the reason. He had turned down this same award seven years earlier on the same grounds and felt nothing had changed.
In both examples, these men turned their backs on receiving awards from the establishment as a matter of conscience and it helped to publicise their grievances with the government. This is perfectly fine as the right to protest is a fundamental human right.
Some people might feel such actions are a slight on the nation but it is every man to his conscience. I must say that I am with Mr Lennon and Prof Achebe on these points because the Nigeria-Biafra thing and corruption are still in the news in Nigeria after all these years.
Concerning those still who love their countries despite seeing horrors such as war and genocide within its boundaries, I am amazed. People have been known to have lived through hell only for the war to end and they say “let us rebuild the country”. The ties people have to the land of their birth are nothing short of mysterious.
In conclusion, anywhere we find ourselves, let us do the best we can for the land we live in and never forget the land we left behind.
In the end, all men and women will have to leave the country no matter how much they love it. Let us call the process a kind of deportation by death into another world.
