The scenery from both sides

THE SCENERY FROM BOTH SIDES

ARINZE.S.CHIJI

Often times, we criticize leaders for being out of touch to the needs of followers. We always have our opinions about how they should react to different things, at different times and situations. We feel that a certain solution to a particular problem should align with ours and that they should always look out for us. It won’t be odd or out of place that way because a whole lot was promised that should be delivered.

A young foreman in a woodwork shop led other workers in a protest against the management for negligence and poor remuneration. He was infuriated at the lackluster attitude of the management towards workers’ welfare. He questioned the disparity between the good living conditions of the management and the sad and poor lives the workers led. The young foreman was so certain that he could d better if he had the opportunity to be in the management. Years later, the foreman made it to the management and his life improved tremendously. There was another uprising among the workers and he reacted contrary to what he said he could do as a foreman. He did nothing!

Helen Keller’s quote explains the foreman’s reaction.

‘The few own the many because they possess the means of livelihood of all….

The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators and the exploiters of labor. The majority of mankind are working people.

So long as their demands (the ownership and control of their livelihoods) are set at naught, we can have neither men’s rights nor women’s rights. The majority of mankind is ground down by industrial oppression in order that the small remnant may live in ease