Our parents and grandparents were able to fight their un-winnable civil war for three years despite being pounded from all sides with the military powers of the time. They withstood the war in the face of losing it. They lost mostly because they had little to less military power among other reasons but they bore the spirit of “onye aghana nwanne ya”. That spirit was a patriotic spirit towards self, neighbour, community and the state.
Overtime, we seem to have lost that spirit. We must not lose that spirit.
The brotherhood that we share as one people, one language, and one culture has to be propagated, taught and spread among the Igbo people. We must begin to sow love, kindness, and as we are known; we believe in justice, freedom and fairness.
Gone should be the days of being individualistic and pursuit of self-interest to the detriment of the people. We must not condone evil and fear. We have to go back to the basics of what made the Igbo man who he was and who he should be; courage, justice, fairness, equity and peace loving.
The Igbo people are peace loving, they are determined to work hard and achieve success no matter how many challenges and years it takes them while not forgetting his roots with the community, kindred, extended family and brotherhood.
A lot of people have imbibed the culture of arrogance, viciousness and loudness, where they will show brotherhood and compassion and be reserved.
The spirit of “onye aghana nwanne ya”, takes away viciousness, pride, arrogance and stepping on people’s toes in order to rise. You cannot rise while leaving your brother and community behind. You cannot dream to kill if you are with this spirit and you cannot blackmail, if you are with this spirit. It is not the spirit of “ultra-individualism”, coined by David Brooks; me, mine and my interest spirit that seemed to have dominated our social and political life. It is the spirit of love and compassion and charity. It is the spirit of development for self, neighbours and community. It is the spirit of support and love for Igbo culture, traditions and language. It is the spirit of industrializing the region. It is the spirit of good politics for the benefit of the region and the people. It is the spirit of lifting one and all over the poverty line through good policies, and laws, within the government and community. It is the spirit that guides the traditional leaders, religious leaders, social leaders and political leaders towards people oriented programmes. It is the spirit that our forebears embraced.
We have to reawaken the spirit of “onye aghana nwanne ya”, within our families, kindred, communities, states and Igbo land.
With this spirit, our shaky patriotism towards one another, our community and our region will rebound and with this, we can achieve a lot to contribute healthily to the larger society just as the rising sun.
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