Get me a spiritual report
A worrying pattern has emerged in Ghana! Everything that happens, almost invariably, is attributed to a cause, one way or the other.
Advertisement
Consider the following scenario:
A man takes his two sons to school on a motorbike. He does not wear helmet. The sons do not wear helmets. On their way, a car veers off its lane and collides with their motorbike. The man and his two sons are thrown off the motorbike; they crash their heads and die instantly.
One probable cause of the accident and the resulting fatality, will stand out: It is spiritual!
This will be followed by all kinds of speculations in an attempt to explain the spiritual link to the accident:
• That the man quarrelled with the sister a couple of days earlier, during which the sister told him to “wait and see,”
• That the man’s sons are academically brilliant, an envy to some members of the extended family who have decided to eliminate them before they become prominent persons in society,
• That the man was recently promoted at work; his colleagues are not pleased with his rise, and ... many more.
One can be certain that commentators on the accident may not attribute the fatality to the fact that the man and his children were not wearing helmets.
One is often confronted with this awful, common sight of motorcyclists without helmets on our roads.
Indeed, it is perplexing to see motorcyclists rather strap their helmets to their motorbikes as they meander through traffic, sometimes at top speed.
This and other occurrences in our society due to indiscipline, bad attitude, lack of common sense, negligence, apathy, etc. are always attributed to spiritual causes.
It has become so common these days that it is spiritual for one to have headaches, diarrhoea, rebellious children, bad economy, etc.
We conveniently forget that
• We litter indiscriminately, for which reason we have filthy environment,
• We eat without washing our hands with soap and water,
• Our police would rather take bribes from road users instead of enforcing road regulations,
• Our political leaders are only focused on their parochial interests and care less about the economy.
What is spiritual about all these, when other people are getting it right elsewhere?
We must be practical about our personal and national problems. It is by our own doing that we find ourselves in the kind of mess we are in today. Our problems are not spiritual!
Not long ago, I was approached by Mr A to discuss a problem. He told me he fell on a slippery terrazzo floor, suffered a fractured skull and was hospitalised.
He continued that he consulted a spiritualist, after he was discharged from the hospital, because he felt he was paralysing.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, the Excuse Duty Form issued by the doctor to Mr A indicated that he had suffered from a spinal injury. To have records of this narration on file, I requested three things from Mr A:
• A written account of the incident,
• A medical report from the hospital, and
• A spiritual report from the spiritualist.
Mr A virtually rolled on the floor with laughter. He just couldn’t come to terms with how he could get me a spiritual report.
I hope I didn’t ask for too much.
• The writer is a lecturer at the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology,
University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast
Advertisement