Learning to Become a Patriotic Ghanaian III

BY Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo
Attorney and Counselor at Law

Paper chromatography is an analytical technique for separating and identifying mixtures that are colored or can be colored. This method was discovered by Martin and Synge in 1943, and it provided, for the first time, the means of surveying constituents of plants and for their separation and identification. Newer and more efficient methods have since been discovered, and the aforementioned method has become less and less visceral in the identification and surveying of constituents of plants and other substances.
But for me personally, my study of the topic in secondary school some thirty years ago foregrounded a compound metaphor with which to analyze and describe human conduct and its ramifications especially within my immediate Ghanaian society. With this imagistic tool, it is possible to identify the cast of characters leading our national discourse, taking into account their tribal, partisan, religious and social affiliations. In other words, you can formulate a sound predictor of a person’s perception of the truth by the chemistry of what I will call his behavioral chromatography.
Thus, when a certain individual writes, his writing will constitute a motley aggregate of ideations on tribalism, condemnation of the present government or the exultation of his ethnic roots and the derogation of all others. Another will defend the government to the hilt and call those opposing it nation wreckers. Yet others will extol their village chieftaincy and claim its unparalleled glory while painting that of others with excremental colors. Yet still, others will apotheosize the deeds of certain founding fathers and monopolize all historical recognition in their behalf while criminalizing in totality the acts of other founding fathers and calling them archetypal traitors culpable of the highest treason or prison. Thus identifying ideological propensities that are colored or can be colored should not per se be a difficult task in the context of our community of writers and commentators. To this community therefore, the real truth is an abstract substance to be melted, massaged, mollified, mitigated, mangled or manacled….
But a system is made up of nothing more than the sum of its elements. In common computer parlance, what we put in is what we get out…nothing more, nothing less! So that if we here have over the years, reflected negatively on our country and donned the smock of war in readiness to do battle with others not of our tribe or party or religion, then for sure, the country will be in attrition against itself, and nothing we do or say can make any changes to its forlorn fate of permanent division. And if the truth is emplaced or replaced by our ideological proclivities, then we are nowhere near the goal of our freedom or justice emblazoned on our national escutcheon.
We have to decide the nation we want to build after fifty-seven years of a so-called freedom and independence during which our people have neither been free nor independent. And that task will begin with an individual transformation based on the reorientation and reinterpretation of our basic thinking and behavior, one person at a time. All our actions ought to coalesce with those proven to advance nation building: honesty, integrity, charity, objectivity, tenacity, sagacity, perspicacity, nobility and dignity.
To some, these qualities may sound unattainable and optimally idealistic; but they are present in the critical mass of the people and ready to manifest if sufficiently titillated. And there are many who are not waiting for a so-called charismatic leadership or exemplary tutelage in order to do the right thing. The singular act of honesty displayed by a certain Ghanaian illustrates my point.. Three years ago, a friend in Ghana called Annor did something which I considered to be the acme of naivete: he entrusted ten thousand dollars to his worker’s distant relative to be hand-delivered to me here in the US. He wanted me to purchase a car for him. Thereafter, he nonchalantly called to inform me to expect the money in four days. I was miffed! I thought my friend had thrown his money into the sea.
Frantically, I called the phone number which the individual supplied for the transaction, but the phone had been disconnected. I was then very sure that the money was lost, until on the fifth day, my phone rang. It was the voice of a stranger apologizing for the delay in contacting me and assuring me that the money was on the way. When I thanked him and expressed my gratitude and initial fear, he told me that he did not see anything extraordinary that he had done to merit any profuse thanks, and that in his extended family, no-one was capable of the dishonest conduct that fuelled my suspicion. I believed him and apologized profusely!
Then also, just last week, I stepped out of my office and drove home after a long day’s work, only to discover that I was missing a business debit card as well as a hundred dollar note which I had earlier taken out of my wallet and put in my suit pocket. The following day, when I went to my office, somebody had slid the card and the money under my door without even writing a note to signify that he was the good samaritan. These are the kind of altruistic acts that coalesce with those proven to advance nation building.
In paper chromatography there is something called the retention factor (Rƒ) which may be defined as the ratio of the distance traveled by the substance to the distance traveled by the solvent. To calculate the Rƒ value, take the distance traveled by the substance divided by the distance traveled by the solvent. That is how to arrive at the depth and preponderance of a predominating color that will effectuate the identifiable hue in the overall tapestry of colors. We are the substance if we are the good citizens and the solution here connotes the evil ones, and the distance we travel here today, if we go all out with passion and focus, will give the positive coloration to the country of our birth; either by subsuming or accentuating the acts of those whose wish is to pull the nation down.
Samuel Adjei Sarfo, Doctor of Jurisprudence, is a general legal practitioner in Austin, Texas, USA. You may email him at [email protected]