When discussions emerge around the challenges facing Africa, it is usually the corrupt leadership or colonialism that gets picked on as the reason. These two narratives dominate discussions and tend to grab the most blame. While they are both true in part – bad leadership has cost us a lot, and colonialism (for all it did or didn’t do) changed the trajectory of our development, they aren’t the whole truth. What I have come to believe is this: if only we as individuals, became more of a patriot, then Africa can begin to heal and rise.
Being a patriot is more than waving flags and singing anthems for if you genuinely loved your country, then you would care enough to act in the best interests of your country. This could be honesty in the small things, respecting public property, buying local, or standing up for the right thing even when nobody is watching. Imagine that if we all treated our countries as our homes, and cared for and protected our countries and realizing at the same energy we care for our homes.
Many African countries have the resources, talent and youthful vigor to move ahead, it is ownership of that development that we usually lack. Many people treat the country as something external and separate from them. People tend to think that the duty to make things work, lies only with the politicized; nation building is a shared responsibility. If a teacher is chronically late, students cheat in examinations, and if motorists bribe police so as not to pay a ticket; that isn't just "life" - it is failed development, evolution defunct and decay of national values.
You cannot continue to blame leaders when you constantly cut corners in your own spaces. Patriotism calls for a greater sense of accountability over ourselves. Patriotism challenges us to think beyond ourselves, but for the next generation. If every one of us could commit to being better citizens, care for our community, and pay taxes honestly, vote for the right politicians and choose to do the right thing every day, Africa would suddenly feel something different.
Patriotism might not cure all ills, but it would create the pair of eyes that ignites patriotic change from the ground up. If people loved their countries enough to protect them from corruption, lawlessness and selfishness, then they would force their leaders to do the same. If we dared to become more patriotic, then we would leave less room for the thieves, the crooks and the people who use the nation for their own benefit.
Africa does not have to heal through grand policies or even foreign development assistance; healing might be birthed by small acts of millions - simple honest and patriotic actions. And that is the strength we have taken for weak. That is the strength that can more than save us.
Images credit: @mcsamm