The Price of Empathy
For some, empathy cost them nothing. It comes freely to them. It is part of their very being and it sometimes is a burden they have to constantly carry with them. They constantly put themselves in the shoes of those going through any situation and in a country like Nigeria where different hideous things happen daily almost in competition with one another this can be emotionally draining. For others, empathy is very expensive and they are able to learn it only through the hard way. They have to be affected before they are able to put themselves in the shoes of those going through any situation and sadly Nigeria is abound with many of them. They are the ones you see in spite of the atrocities happening in Nigeria will continue to make excuses for the government that have failed to secure lives and properties, a government that does not care about the state or the wellbeing of its people. They justify even the most horrible of situations and one wonders whether there is any milk of humanity in them.
Coronavirus: Port health services on alert at points of entry – NCDC
After the Punch Newspaper declared it would address the Head of State of Nigeria with his military title of Major General for his dictatorial stance, many of his supporters on Twitter decided they were going to adopt a military title too. All of a sudden there were hordes of military officers on Twitter and the titles ranged from Major General to Field Marshal. It was quite sad seeing how so many who had fought against injustice in the last administration now embraced the injustice of this administration and were ready to not only defend it but attack those who called out the injustice. One wondered if they were not aware of what was happening in the country or that slowly but surely the country was edging to the abyss and when the worst came it would not just affect those who make demands and criticise the government but also those who defended and attacked others on behalf of government. How can some Nigerians still defend what is going on in the country? Is it some sort of self-hate? The North East today is in the News when it is even allowed to be in the News for all the wrong reasons. Boko Haram has increased its attack on the region and it is almost as if our military have little or nothing to counter the attacks. It is as if they are waiting for the spiritual warfare that they launched to take effect while they repel instead of attacking.
Those who attacked us for saying that Boko Haram had not been defeated and there were attacks going on in the North East are today crying about the attacks that they once denied were happening just because their own towns were safe or because they felt any mention of the true state of affairs will highlight the incompetence of the Head of State. Many now cry out because they have fallen victims or their loved ones have fallen victims to the Boko Haram menace. Why wait to be a victim before acquiring empathy that can be gotten for free? To them empathy is extremely expensive and they couldn’t pay the price except when it got to their doorstep. That is not the way to be. We must always remember the saying that injustice to one is injustice to all and also that terrorist attack to anyone anywhere is terrorist attack to everyone everywhere.
A fortnight ago, a young man whose mother and sisters were kidnapped in Kaduna State cried out on Twitter. He was one of the Twitter Major Generals who took on the title in solidarity with the Head of State. When he tweeted about the ordeal of his mother and sisters many were quick to point out to him that what happened to others that he defended was what had happened to him and he, like every other Nigeria had no government protecting him and being there for him in his moment of need. This young man dropped the military title he had in solidarity with the Head of State. In his moment of need he realised that Major General Buhari cared about one thing and one thing alone: HIMSELF! Nobody else mattered. It was all about his ambition and perks of office and the lives and security of citizens meant nothing to him. A few days after this young man dropped his military title many other Twitter military officers dropped their titles. It was as if they all had gotten their eyes opened up to the fact that any one of us can become a victim and that the more the attacks are allowed to happen the more our chances of becoming victims increase
