Our real enemy is our common obstacles not each other.
We need to join forces against corruption, a dysfunctional government, a lagging education system, a poor socioeconomic structure, and a defunct cultural machine.
At the time the Wright brothers were using their own money from their bike repair shop to try and put man in the air, there was another state and academically sponsored engineer with the same task. After the Wright brothers beat him to having the first manned flight, he packed his bags and went home and never again worked on anything that had to do with flight. His objective was not to discover flight but rather to be the first one and to get credit for it. The right decision would have been for him to link up with the Wright brothers and add his knowledge to what they had.
I feel like we in Cameroon have all become like that engineer who is not worthy of being named but will be - Samuel P. Langley. We do not want to see our obstacles crumble if we cannot get the most credit for it so we tear each other down with every given opportunity.
We have to be careful about where such an attitude will drive us. The primary driver of our well-being is our culture. A culture built on selfishness is harsh, brittle and short-lived.
I really wish this will make a difference. I’ll just leave this here in case there are any humans out there.
- Tino Foy