(1) You respect boss, no wahala. You no respect boss, wahala dey.
Thus producing a nation of sycophants with very few ready to speak
truth to power, face to face....
It's the same in many other places not just in the neck of the woods
where you are, presently.
Society is organised hierarchically, only the existence of the
Almighty confers on the rest of us (more than 47% of humanity) some
kind of equality and even then, in the material world,as we all
notice, some men are "more equal" than others.
I met the guy who was making a tour of Europe, representing the ten
million Black people of the African Diaspora in Colombia. I asked him
about the sorry state of affairs in which the White people in Colombia
oppressed the Black people, and the Black people in turn oppressed the
Indians!
In any given hierarchical system the level on top often oppresses the
level immediately below, all the way down the ladder. In the Nigerian
Civil Service I observed that for some people to get their letter to
the Permanent Secretary the kalabuleh has to start with a down
payment to the office messenger. The price gets higher and higher,
until your humble request finally reaches its destination - or may
even be thrown in the waste paper basket half way to its destination
and the tragedy is that when that happens you never get your money
back. The Indians and Pakistanis were smarter than the individualist
Ghanaians – the Indians approached some of these matters
collectively, one huge down payment to the Oga that be, to take care
of their business,....
I remember in Nigeria, there I was having coffee with the Perm Sec.
Ministry of education in Port Harcourt when we heard a timid knock on
the door and in walked the Principal of the college where I was
working, walked in with what Naipaul has described as a " pre-formed
cringe" , apologizing profusely for his very presence, " I hope that I
am not disturbing you Madam" and then he handed over the envelop he
was carrying, handed over the envelop with both hands sort of bowed
and walked out hurriedly and left us in peace to sip our coffees. I
could hardly believe that this was the same guy who had been walking
upright alright and terrifying the staff - when the Pope was making
his visit to Nigeria he then ordered members of staff to put on
traditional attire (although he had on occasion criticized me for
wearing my Buba and sokoto) - yes, power sweet, like these lines from
" Moses Ascending" :
" I cannot tell you what joy and satisfaction I had, the day I move
into these new quarters. Whereas I did have a worm's eye view of
life , now I had a bird's eye view. I was Master of the house: I
insert my key in the front lock , I enter , I ascend the stairs, and
when the tenants hear my heavy tread they cower and shrink in their
rooms in case I snap my fingers and say OUT to any of them"
"http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moses-Ascending-Penguin-Modern-Classics/dp/
0141189312
In fact, they not only " cower and shrink" they also turn down the
volume of the music when the Almighty Landlord passes by to collect
the rent. - they also make sure that the premises are spic and span
on rent collection day, to avoid any wahala.
On the international level the boss calls and you answer.
The US with big guns can phone one of the smallies and say " Do
this!" ( "When Caesar says do this, it is perform'd" - or else!
However, when they voted for Palestinian observer status at the UN ,
all of the African countries threw their weight behind Mahmoud Abbas
or abstained - and this means that the US had not issued any threats
(silent or otherwise)
It's extraordinary don't you think, that there is a tendency for
people to fear the lowly Ghetto boss more than they fear the Almighty
– perhaps because the Almighty is so merciful He does not visit death
upon us instantaneously for major sins committed.
In one of your earlier quotes, you said "Most worship God only
because they are afraid of him." they same reason that they genuflect
to their "bosses"here on earth
http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/
On Dec 19, 1:07 pm, ChidiAnthonyOparaPoetry/Quotes
<chidianthonyoparapoe...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> (1) You respect boss, no wahala. You no respect boss, wahala dey.
>
> (2) Christmas na time for levels.
>
> (3) Ghetto person no dey give
> up.
>
> More ghetto quotes here:http://ghettokwots.blogspot.com/
>
> Reproductions in part or in whole, in whatever forms, of ChidiAnthonyOparaPoetry/Quotes except for non-profit information and education purposes, without a written permission from the Author is not allowed.
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