Gil Scott Heron - Black Wax

We are Because of Others-Nana Okyere was a good Man

We are all who we are because of the incredible contributions and sacrifices from other people in our lives. I find it so hard to swallow when I see people talk about their individual accomplishments and how nobody was ever there for them. And “I did it all by myself nonsense”. FYI, that is not true. People might behave as though they don’t care about you and what you are doing but somehow they do care and will support you in various ways that you yourself might not even know about. 

To all my Valentine's out there

So today is Valentine’s Day and I wish to write not only on the subject of love but about one particular individual who once gave me opportunities and opened his house for me regardless of who I was and who he thought I could be.

All I said on this day, thus today Valentine’s Day is that, love is often defined differently by people of different divides and if yours is tight to chocolate, go for it, if it is to other people in your life, why not?, and if it’s for the sake of love and how others perceive the subject, so be it. But for me it is considering what other people needs are, considering the fact that love has no boundaries, it is universal and that all human beings deserve love and affection from other people. Of course I will be disagreed upon on this but again, that is my perception and opinion of love. Here is what I wrote on my Facebook page this morning:

               “Greed is a reality and that is why we always tend to think that there is scarcity. In fact there is enough for everyone what is not enough is LOVE. May we all starve our greeds and the quest for more on this day, Valentine’s Day and feed our love for one another. Please make a difference in somebody's life today. OH!, Happy Valentine's day everyone”-Ronnie Law.

Is it that true? Of course it is not because I wrote it, but because it is true and love should be 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year and 365 days per annum business. But we don’t have the ability to do so, do we?

                The second part of my message today as states earlier is a tribute to honor a great man I once met and got to know in Ghana. His name? Nana Okyere Darko. He was a wonderful man and he was the man who opened his house to me and introduced to me his children of whom I am friends with some on Facebook. He passed away on this date in 2013 without my knowledge. I never knew of his demise until I was told by a son of his, Nana Agyemang just last year. It hurts to lose a lot of dear ones when you are overseas like I am and that I understood is part of life. You make sacrifices to get what you need for your own survival. Nana was a wonderful man full of love and compassion for others. The name Nana by the way in the Akan tradition, which is the largest ethnicity in Ghana means, royal, emperor, but in some cultures it means elderly. 

Nana Okyere in his traditional Kente Clothes

             Flashback:  I met and got to knew Nana when I was in Sunyani and while there, one day I was seriously doing job-hunt in town as usual. As I passed by his house I saw that they were buying and bagging cocoa and I thought to myself why don’t I stop by and find out if they needed help? So I did just as my conscience told me to but they didn’t need a hand, and there Nana said to me, "you are a nice young man". But I am sorry these days the cocoa market is not good else you would have been hired to help us. Having said that he gave me some pocket money and asked that any time I was in town without much to do I should stop by the house and maybe he will have something for me to do.

Lo and behold, I did just that and most of the times I wouldn't get to do much and most of the time I would and with time I got to meet his wife, kids, and grand-kids and he also got to brought me to his cocoa farms a couple of times in his car and the rest is history. I lost touch with Nana when I had to travel to the United States and just last year I heard he passed away while inquiring about him. I was very saddened by this news and decided I was going to write a piece in his honor on Valentine’s Day for the rest of my pals across the world. So this is it, people.

He liked to smile and laugh, you are forever missed Nana Okyere

           Do you still think about your successes as your own efforts? I don’t think so and remember, we are all who we are because somebody looked after us as though we were somebody and that we are worthy of love and compassion as human beings. On that note, I intend to be a prisoner of love for the rest of my life. Whatever I get I will give to the good of the least fortunate of us knowing that I am who I am because of the love and sacrifices and compassion of people I know and doesn't know as well. The least of these, the 25^th Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. I have nothing yet I always feel as though I have everything on the surface of this planet. I feel rich, energetic, and powerful. I take back my words on I have nothing, actually I have everything.

I look forward a long wonderful relationship with his kids who are like brothers to me. The story of my life and we will be expounding on that someday.

          Happy Valentines to you all and don’t forget to share you love with everyone, we all need love and care.

Yours Pal,

Ron

Bushonomics