You must have heard a workmate saying, “The 6 months I have worked here are enough. I am now looking for a new challenge.” You must have heard a man or woman saying “This girl/boy I have been with for 2 weeks is now boring. I am back to the market for a new catch.” You must have also heard a neighbour saying “The time I have spent in this country is enough. I am fed up. I cannot stay here. This is the worst country. I am now looking for a new opportunity to fly out.”
To make my point clear, I will use the three analogies above: a lover, a worker and a citizen:
- Fellow lover, so you have been looking over the fence to other people’s love-paddocks, feeling that things are better that side than where you now are?
- Fellow worker, so you are still busy hoping from one workplace to another as regularly as you change shirts or skirts, convincing yourself that you are about to get a workplace that has no problems at all?
- Fellow countryman/woman, so you have been crying for a visa or a green card to leave your country and go to work in foreign countries because you are tired of yours, and feel that greater opportunities are “out there”?
Well, I have one thought for you today: Grass is not greener ON THE OTHER SIDE of the fence; it is greener WHERE IT IS WATERED.
Let me repeat this slowly: Grass-is-not-greener-ON-THE-OTHER-SIDE-of-the-fence; it-is-greener-WHERE-IT-IS-WATERED.
SOUL-SEARCHING INQUIRY:
In view of the above, let me ask the following questions:
(1) To you whose heart is burning with passion for yet another lover:
- What have you done to add value to yours?
- As a married man/woman, what have you done to cultivate your wife or build your husband?
- What investment have you really made in him/her before you scamper to settle on the neighbour whose spouse is watering well?
- Have you forgotten what the Baganda of Central Uganda often say? That “Kifa nsalila“, in essence, meaning that what determines the health of the banana plantation is the care it is given.
(2) To you whose mind is scheming with untold creativity for a new job:
- What kind of a worker have you been in that company you are about to leave? An “essential worker” who is celebrated or an added liability that is tolerated? (Yeah, these words are not friendly and I am aware!)
- Have you been one that really adds great value to ensure the grass becomes greener or you actually are the very scorching sun that has dried up everything that was lush, the very merciless locust that has chewed every little petal? (Yeah, I am also aware that these words are equally not palatable!)
- I am asking, what have you passionately done to ensure the company you work with grows to a point where there is no option but for those in charge to increase the share the hay with you?
- Before you quickly tell me about your inconsiderate, ungrateful and heartless boss, are you sure all those who have been your bosses were like that? How come even then you still became a “professional nomad” in the name of “personal aspirations”, leaving a trail of tears everywhere you went?
(3) To you whose life is restless until they leave their country:
- What have you done to make your country a bit better by an inch?
- Aren’t you the one who has been giving bribes to traffic policemen, secretaries in public offices, and politicians? What then gives you moral authority to complain about those who consume our national resources like pythons? Aren’t you just the smaller version of those people within your circles?
- Aren’t you the one who has been ruthlessly exploiting the house-girl at home, abusing the askari at the shopping mall, and mistreating the lady in charge of tea at the office? How come you have the boldness to say “workers in this country are not treated well”?
- Aren’t you the one who has been littering the country with your empty water bottles that you shamelessly throw through the window of your car as you cruise on our roads? Why do you then complain that the local council authorities are not cleaning your town or city? Why are you now referring to the neighbouring country as being cleaner than yours yet you are part of our problem?
- Aren’t you the one who has been working less than you are paid for while expecting to keep being paid more than you really work for? Where do you get the courage to talk about unfairness in the nation yet you incubate it daily inside that office cubicle?
- And now you are planning to fly to the UK, Dubai or the US! Are those nations the ones that tolerate your mediocrity?
Let me repeat this reminder that we all periodically need to listen to: Grass is not greener ON THE OTHER SIDE of the fence; it is greener WHERE IT IS WATERED.
CONCLUSION:
Therefore, stop using “looking for better opportunities” as a scapegoat for uncouth mindsets. Instead of running all over the place with protruding eyes searching for “greener grass” on the other side of the fence, decide to change your attitude. Get that bucket right now, turn on the tap, fetch clean water and irrigate the little grass where you are standing right now – whether it is in your marriage, workplace or nation.
Guess what! You can be a source of nourishment. You can be part of the reason why there is growth in your marriage. You can be the influence that is making your community different. You can avail your energies to increase productivity in that organization. You can.
When this happens, you will see people who used to think like you come from other paddocks saying that the grass is greener in YOUR own paddock because you have pruned the garden, watered the plants, and protected the luxuriant canopy! Today, be part of the watering team, instead of adding heat that dries your employment place, your marriage, your country?
Thank you!
#YouWillManage
