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Writing about the prevailing pains, trauma and frustration of Celestine Vigale.Kegiri, the 34-year-old skilled carpenter and wood specialist reminds me of two seminal books I read with passion as a secondary school student: God’s Bits of Wood (1960) and A walk in the Night and other stories (1962). The former was written by Sembene Ousmane (January 1, 1923 – June 9, 2007), my departed friend, a celebrated Senegalese writer, Marxist and film director. The book is a fictional work set in colonial Senegal, the French speaking West African country. The theme of workers strike permeates the book. Workers strikes’ in the book is triggered by the poor working conditions of the railway workers. The latter was authored by Alex La Guma (1925 - 1985), the famous South African journalist, author and anti-apartheid activist. In the above novella, he fictionalized the suffering of workers in Apartheid South Africa. Ousmane and La Guma are deeply concerned about the predicament of the working peoples be they in Senegal, Mali or South Africa. Whether workers at the railway stations, mining pits or cement factories, working class peoples always bear the blow of injustice, greed and manipulation by those who control the means of production.
“If you want outstanding results then you need good people with great talents and awesome attitudes” – John Maxwell In page 120 of Bob Harrison’s Book: POWER POINTS FOR SUCCESS, I read a story that backs the cry for Professor Maurice Iwu to be removed as INEC Chairman in order to kick start the process of totally reforming our electoral system for the good of the commonwealth. Here is the story: A carpenter stumbled on scaffolding and fell onto a coworker who was using a nail gun. As the two fell to the ground, the man’s nail gun began to fire, hitting the other carpenter six times in the head. Over several days of operations, doctors were able to remove all the nails. In order to avoid a fatal infection, the nails in the man’s head had to be removed. There is a different kind of ‘infection’ that can be set into Churches, clubs, businesses, and families – and it may also be “fatal.” It is the negative attitude of an employee or member. This kind of infection normally begins when someone within the organization, group, or relationship becomes upset by some other member’s actions or a perceived injustice. Instead of giving the situation time to change or correct itself, the disgruntled individual begins to manifest his or her negative feelings through criticism, disrespect, pouting, temper tantrums, or hostility. If not handled quickly and properly, this negative attitude can spread to others in the group, business, or family. If left untreated, this “infection” can be harmful to harmony and unity. Best-selling author John Maxwell teaches, “What starts as a bad attitude in one or two people can make a mess of the situation for every one. Bad attitudes must be addressed. They will always cause dissension, resentment, combativeness, and division. And they will never go away on their own. They will simply fester and ruin the team” He also says, “if you leave a bad apple in a barrel of good apples, you will always end up with a barrel of rotten apples.”
