“John F Kennedy: Hi, I’m Jack Kennedy. what are you doing?”
“Janitor: Well, Mr. President, I am helping put a man on the moon.”
The dialogue above was said to have occurred between former US President John F Kennedy and a janitor when the former interrupted his tour at a NASA Space Center and walked over to the latter whom he noticed carrying a broom.
I first came across this short, yet powerful story in Mark Zuckerberg’s commencement speech at Harvard some weeks back, which coincided with some ruminations I have for long been reflecting on concerning our country and our people, upon which I came to the conclusion that our major problem as a nation has a lot to do with our collective lack of sense of purpose; that feeling of being part of something bigger than ourselves or our jobs, however small.
It’s possible that the janitor in the story doesn’t even know or appreciate the number or caliber of the high profile and world renowned astrophysicists, the engineers, the Neil Armstrongs, and so many other “Rocket Scientists” who worked very hard for years to see to the success of the first human landing on the moon. All he cared and was proud about was the fact that he was also – in his own little way – “helping put a man on the moon”. This sense of being part of something great is sadly what appears to be lacking across board in our country today.
The failure of almost all institutions in this country is largely due to this fundamental problem: the lack of sense of purpose. Take these hypothetical scenarios for example of which almost every Nigerian is in one way or the other, accustomed to:
Mr. A goes to an office in Nigeria to get one or two documents signed or processed and the secretarial staff or even the Officer-in-Charge {say Mr. B}, will treat that person (Mr. A) as if he is doing him a favor for doing what he is been paid for.
Mr. B may later visit a bank to sort one or two things about his hard earned money that he voluntarily deposited in the bank and be treated by the bank worker {let’s say Mr. C} in a most condescending manner.
Mr. C may have one reason or the other to seek medical care only for them to be treated condescendingly by one or two health worker(s) {one of which is Mrs. D} for services they are been paid to offer to them.
Mrs. D may later have one problem or the other to sort with one office or the other, and be treated (by Mr. A for example,) in the same condescending manner in which she is accustomed to dealing with people… On and on goes the vicious cycle!
Most of the hypothetical workers above (typically Nigerians!), are oblivious of the fact that they all work in a closely knit and interconnected system in which each and every person will one day – perhaps in the near future – require the service of the other and that each and every one of them serves a higher purpose than his/her job description and owes the system a responsibility to make the system work by doing his/her work diligently and efficiently.
In another typical scenario, imagine what is obtainable at our ATMs where you may shockingly meet an employee of the same bank operating the machine (I have!) in a long queue just because the person saddled with the responsibility of making sure the machines are working doesn’t have that sense of higher purpose; the realization of his/her role to make sure the teachers in the queue get back to their schools in time to possibly teach his/her own children; the health workers in the queue get back to their places of work in time to possibly treat his/her relative and so on and so forth.
Just mentally picture all possible scenarios in all institutions among all workers both public and private, professionals and otherwise and you will agree with me that it’s all the same story.
What saddens me most with this attitude exhibited by most of us is the feeling most workers and officials (both public and private) have that they are doing you a favor by doing exactly what they are being paid for. You will notice that even from the way a typical Nigerian official/worker looks at or talks to you especially when you require their service for the first time and ‘you don’t know anybody’. The resultant effect of this sad vicious cycle is that for one to fully get the service he/she is due, one needs to know someone in that institution or else your precious time will be lost to flimsy excuses, unnecessary bottlenecks and useless formalities; or you may not even get that job done. The end result of all this is the current near collapse of all institutions and systems in the country.
Sense of purpose is that feeling of contentment with pride of the role everyone plays for the collective progress of a society regardless of cadre, class or profession and the realization that it is our supra-additive collective efforts that will make the system work and that it is in everybody’s interest for the system to work. Without the right sense of purpose, if you like fill all the mantles of leadership in the country with the people of highest integrity in the world, and I assure you the system will never work. Bottom-top change in attitude is the most effective and sustainable solution to our problems rather than the lazy notion that ‘once we have good and sincere leaders, all our problems will vanish into thin air’ (case study: Post 2015 Nigeria).
It is in this regard that I remember a conversation I had with a not-so-optimistic-about-Nigeria friend of mine who once opined thus: “assuming we hypothetically take all the people in one of the most industrially advanced and developed countries in the world like Germany and replace them with Nigerians with our current mindset, we would within of five years (or less) cause a total collapse of the all the German institutions despite the formidability of such institutions. Similarly, if we replace all the people in the geographical area called Nigeria (despite all our failed systems and institutions) with all the people currently in Germany, give them just five years and you will be surprised to see the progress they will make”. This line of thought, though too extreme (one may say), may not be far from the truth if one ponders deeply about the general attitude of Nigerians in comparison with people of other nationalities.
It is my belief that until each and every one of us understand and appreciate the role we all play for the collective progress of the system, our quest for meaningful development will continue to be a mirage. We all need to be like that janitor who helped send Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin to the moon by doing his job. Our jobs, however small, are parts and parcel of what collectively propels our system to greatness, the speed of which (or lack thereof) largely depends on the willingness of each and every one of us to play his/her own role and discharge his/her responsibility diligently and effectively regardless of the circumstances or the people involved and without fear of favor.
Let’s all find our sense of purpose for the general good of the system!
