Feature
By: Precious Miracle Kargbo
Have you ever at any time had the feeling that life is unfair to you, and wish that you were in a better condition that you are currently? Everywhere you roam about in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown, this is the feeling and expression that is evident, it’s no secret anymore that Sierra Leoneans are not content. But what many failed to realize is that “contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, it’s the realization of what you already have”.
People always cry in Sierra Leone of not being content and appreciative of Sierra Leone and even go the extent of pronouncing their lives as a complete mistake just because they were given birth to in this country, but this is a mere fallacy as there is more to this and if we all can understand then we’ll be able to thrive in all of our activities.
Furthermore, there needs to be a better understanding of this concept and this basically will enhance the knowledge and horizons of what it means to content. Contentment is a state of happiness and satisfaction. It is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have”.
As Sierra Leoneans this is what it means to be content, many people miss this concept today as people frown at the situations they are being surrounded with or even the conditions of their lives, the fact is the moment we realize and be grateful for all what we have and be contempt with it then the sooner we’ll strive to success. This includes gender, skin, color, the family you belong to.
There are certain attributes which are tied to contentment for anyone, regardless of being a Sierra Leonean to be considered content and enjoy what’s theirs at any point in time in life then we need to understand that being content comes with these attributes.1 (Satisfaction) satisfaction is the good feeling that you have when you have achieved something or something that you wanted to happen does happen.
In Present days Africa not only in Sierra Leone, Leaders are never satisfied of what they have, they are always thinking of ways and means that will yield them more riches and therefore we find the rich getting richer whilst the poor continue to languish in poverty.
2 Lack of envy: Envy is the feeling of wanting to be in the situation as somebody else. It’s also the feeling to have something that somebody else has. This is the basis of all the problems today in the world and Sierra Leone is not different whereas people grow envious or jealous mind when others make success in life, instead of celebrating with them, they will be planning to destroy or even the life of these individuals in order to be in that position or even when they stand to gain nothing. Sierra Leoneans find joy in bringing people down and frown from hailing them to success, sad reality.
3 Humility: Humility is the quality of being humble. This is the quality of not thinking that you are better than other people. Forget about people of high classes and standards in society, taking a walk in Freetown you will understand that even the ordinary Sierra Leonean has the thought that he /she is better than the other and at the end of the day they find themselves competing for things that don’t even make sense and even end up into long term malice with one another.
4 Health: A contented person is one who does not stress himself more than his/ her normal capacity.
Sierra Leoneans are never contempt with their present condition they are always looking for ways and means that will enhance their health thereby engaging into dangerous health practices and the common bleaching which funnily make some of them to be black even than the entire African race.
5 Joy: Joy means the state of happiness or great pleasure. A contented person is always Seen to be bubbling with joy and gladness. Trust me if we’re contempt then we’ll be in total peace and harmony so many people see their lives as not progressing because their lives are filled with lot of irrelevant things that end up destroying them at d rendered them to be completely sad “not all that glitters is Gold”. My desire is that we all have a heart of gratitude at all times for what we are, have and what God has not given, it is impossible to develop contentment without gratitude, Sierra Leoneans need to be grateful to God onwards.
Meanwhile speaking about contentment and the responsibility of Sierra Leoneans on how they should be responsible, we need not to forget that there is a huge impact on state authorities especially government to ensure that the needs of citizens to be considered priority and in that light people will find themselves content in every situation. The desire and in-contentment that Sierra Leoneans develop every day is because of the comparison with other countries in the world which their authorities have made right standing with their citizens and how their everyday flourish because of that.
Government has a responsibility to Sierra Leoneans and they should try to give its citizens the opportunity to make themselves happy. There can be no right to happiness, only to “the pursuit of happiness”. Guaranteeing happiness to some people would effectively deny the same to others. The best a government can do is providing an environment where people are able to seek their own happiness. Trying to make everyone happy is a fool’s errand. If discontent grows rapidly, heads of governments can attempt to control the situation through various means such as addressing the grievances of the people, implementing reforms, providing relief and aid, and increasing security measures. However, if these measures fail, the outcomes could be severe, including social unrest, civil disobedience, protests, and even violent uprisings. In the worst-case scenario, it could lead to political instability, regime change, and widespread chaos. It’s crucial for leaders to address the root causes of discontent and take proactive steps to mitigate its impact to prevent these outcomes.
At the wake of all this call, it’s important that we need to be careful for everything, in as much as we make the desperate call for Contentment we must also ensure that we are not anxious because discontentment brings all the doubts and issues in our lives as citizens that can either lead us to depression and forces us to things like drug abuse, corruption, prostitution, illegal migration (temple run) etc. contentment does not mean the absence of desires, it only means you’re satisfied with what you have as nothing in the world can satisfy the desires of a person except God but as Sierra Leoneans contentment can be a great gain if we only we accept and adopt thereafter.
Conclusively , this is the time than ever before that Sierra Leoneans needs to show contentment for all what we have rather than putting our hope on trust on people and government because nobody can determine your success and futures. Except we make the best of the talents you have and the opportunities you’re given. Work very hard and believe in your strength to achieve even the task that seems difficult. being content doesn’t mean you don t desire more, it means you’re thankful for what you have and patient for what is to come, when you love what you have, you have everything you need. Be content Sierra Leoneans that is the only forward.
