Resilience of A Brave Sailor
As Ghanaians, there is this expectation to have hard skin against emotional, psychological, and mental challenges, especially after dwelling in the midst of daily hardship and surviving.
So, in an attempt to protect this resilience that we are expected to associate ourselves with, instead of developing it individually, we break people and, worse, force them to be silent about their brokenness.
We tell them to be quiet and “hide away their tears and pains under their armpit.
Some will even tell you, “Don’t be depressed; don’t ever tell them you are depressed.”
My mother, Mrs. Mary Kutin, will say, do remember to hide your pain under your armpit Oooooo….
Ghanaians are never depressed; it is the white man’s tea and language… but if you don’t have resilience, you will give up easily or even kill yourself!
I was a very young Sailor in the Ghana Navy.
I was pushed through so many traumatic things, bullying, attacks, disrespect, abuse, and bitter experiences like a cockroach in the midst of fowls …
Like, cockroaches too can dance Oooo…
But because of hens and cocks, cockroaches can’t ever end their dance, so I made up my mind to study in the Military rather than worry myself and my head about the troubles they were creating for me.
So I requested to join my trade course. It was officially permitted with plans to worry me the more, but my resilience energy was too strong and harder, like my erections, than their evil thoughts.
I attended my Trade Course on Attachment at Tema Naval Base, and through storms and thrones, I passed all my Military Exams, including the Military Law Exams.
My own people set me up severally.
A lot lied about me,
Which created space for many to hate me.
Luckily, they had no real proof against me on anything. They just hated me and troubled me for nothing.
Like the Widow’s Son, who will offer me help in this jungle I call home?
If families are no longer family to you, who else is blood? Tell me!
The Military system in my Country is sick of something I don’t know yet.
Why are most of the younger ones absenting themselves without official leave?
Oh! The poor weary
They live in fury
Weak hope daily
Day and night a day like years
A thousand
Crying out loud
Calling for help
Reasoning beyond imagination
Anticipating a better day to come someday when this sick system of tribal hatred, political hatred, religious hatred, and attacks on individuals with their own beliefs
I have experienced so many bitter things and scenes as a young Sailor. At a point, I agreed with my inner being and spirit to walk out from the Military and focus on my dreams and other abilities.
Alas!
Life of pain
Life of adversity
Hope halt
Appalling day
Horrendous night
A life of fear and fight
All for their right
For their heroes’ past
With myopia sightings
Sir Godwin Matey Sackitey once said,
Those Commanders are commanding nothing and are blindfolded with self riches, greed, envy, jealousy, hatred, lies, politics, and tribalism without any righteousness in their intentions…
He said some are even Masons without the squarely conduct and upright behaviors.
Kenneth and Debby will say,
Self-heart and self-centered
Short-sighted of sufferings
And the pain of the people,
Longer sufferings with
Shorter fun.
I have suffered a lot of mentally challenging times and issues, but I am always stronger than my fears.
I am joyfully out of the service now.
I am currently a Stool Chief at Kon, a traditional Ruler of my Community and my forefathers’ land.
Ah! Imagine if I committed suicide during those my hardest times, but that never even came to mind.
My mind was to be a better person than the system that was maltreating me.
My mind was to endure all the pains with the resilient spirit of long-suffering, and I made it.
I am a better MAN now, and I can endure every pain and bitter scene because those hardest moments made me the stronger man I am today …
I am now praying for a NEW Government that will work in the interests of the people and not their stomachs, but unfortunately here,
We always vote for a new government,
I mean,
New government
New pains,
New taxes,
New sufferings, I mean special sufferings that will enter your bones and hit your waist with pains.
In my Country, we have good and fertile lands that can grow everything, and we also have a lot of natural resources, but what is killing us is not diarrhea or cholera but bad Government and greedy Governance.
Our leaders are wearing expensive glasses but still have those old myopia eyes.
Heroes are still falling.
Good people are running and dying prematurely
Praying to halt their adversity
Many were chosen
But few were called
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Ghana, my motherland,
Blair! How long should we hope for change?
Since the days of Dr. Emmanuel Kwadwo Kwarteng Boahen, all they preach is a change that we can’t see.
Should I talk of the chaos in my country today,
Let me not speak of the sufferings and injustice today,
If you’re not resilient with the spirit of resilience, you will even end up hanging yourself in my Country.
Our leaders are the emissaries of corruption
Yet, in public, they wage war against corruption
They have led us into the jaws of poverty,
Despite our resources, we have drowned in poverty,
Still, I want to stay in Ghana.
For all my life, I’ll spend to change Ghana, my motherland, so fret naught, my brothers and sisters. Let’s hope for sunshine because there is sun in the sky, so there is hope for a brighter day someday.
May God and His gods
Let the pain and suffering
Be gone forever
As for me, I am not giving up here,
I am still riding my road to reach my destination with my fate and my faith.
Even if they remove my poles, I will still reach my goals in the name of my hometown, Rivers, and gods.
Africa!
Only if we spent the same energy we use in rubbing men’s minds with ego could we address the issues that we teach their egos to protect in the first place.
The childhoods of many boys are stifled with this mentality of what it means to “be a man with resilience ” in a way that forces most of them to make worse decisions in the face of admitting weakness.
Many without strong minds, dreams, and life plans even commit suicide, and others are also busily building their own suicidal thoughts. Still, I, Nana Adu-Boafo, have healthy and helpful life plans. My joy is to scare whatever scares me and overcome every fear and tear in my circle.
In my mind, I have this stronger and constant reminder that God and my hometown, Rivers, have not forgotten me… so I won’t allow any person or anything to break me down or kill me under this shining Sun.
Everyone in life has some sort of strange stories and troubles, and mine is to defeat my troubles and fears to be ME every day…
As Princess Adu-Boafo said:
“When we want experiences, we go to concerts or museums, but when we want the meaningful experience, we go to the storyteller.”.. so many blessings, peace, light, healing, and love to my dearest friend Blair Kaplan Venables for knocking my door for my piece of the story too.
Godsway Tek will say storytelling is the best way to express your feelings and the things you faced through which your life has changed.
Storytelling is the easiest way to remember my learning process, and a story described by facts and figures will be remembered for far longer.
Similarly, good stories create a sense of connection, so it is essential to pursue storytelling in your child and enable them to listen to others’ stories, through which they could learn some innovative things that will be helpful in their upcoming life!!!!
Continuing my resilience story as a resilient person and character, my temple transforms into a body where the hopeless is now full of hope, and I am not a stranger to my stronger thoughts.
If you’re thinking and considering giving up, Trust me, do not do it.
My experiences remind me of many conversations I have had with several women who have experienced one form of intense emotional pain inflicted by someone else.
What is fascinating is how women tend to feed their perpetrator’s lack of conscience while swallowing responsibilities, blame, and shame that does not belong to them.
Please be strong to endure and to overcome every obstacle in your life, don’t commit suicide, and don’t consider any suicidal thoughts into reality.
Be strong and be focused on something because when you’re not serious in life, life will take its focus away from you ….
I am my backbone, and my mind is stronger than my fears and tears …
I have fought too much as a soldier.
I have crossed all the Rivers of pains and rejections.
I have been through a lot that a pen of even a poet cannot poem.
I have suffered a lot of humiliating scenes.
I mean,
Too much sweat,
Too many false allegations and blackmail,
Too much hatred and envy,
Too many hours of heated problems and troubles, but I am still alive, healthy, and doing well in life,
And I am happily and boldly.
Walking down the path behind my house
Thoughts filled my head of the bitter past
Images of the past jogging away from my thoughts and shadow
And I am so happy my positive thoughts and resilience brought me to this point in my life.
Cheers to life, and don’t give up yet!
There are better days ahead, so smile, pray, and wait.
Are you ready to share your story of RESILIENCE? You can do that HERE.
