“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the
end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most
brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be." ....Admiral
Stockdale
Flying from USS
Oriskany on a mission over North Vietnam on September 9, 1965, Stockdale
ejected from his Douglas A-4E Skyhawk, which had been struck by enemy fire and
completely disabled. He parachuted into a small village, where he was severely
beaten and taken prisoner.
Stockdale was
held as a prisoner of war in the Hoa Lo prison for the next seven and one-half
years. As the senior Naval officer, he was one of the primary organizers of
prisoner resistance. Tortured routinely and denied medical attention for the
severely damaged leg he suffered during capture, Stockdale created and enforced
a code of conduct for all prisoners which governed torture, secret
communications, and behaviour. In the summer of 1969, he was locked in leg
irons in a bath stall and routinely tortured and beaten. When told by his
captors that he was to be paraded in public, Stockdale slit his scalp with a
razor to purposely disfigure himself so that his captors could not use him as
propaganda. When they covered his head with a hat, he beat himself with a stool
until his face was swollen beyond recognition. When Stockdale was discovered
with information that could implicate his friends' "black
activities", he slit his wrists so they could not torture him into
confession.
Stockdale was
one of about eleven prisoners known as the "Alcatraz Gang": George
Thomas Coker, George McKnight, Jeremiah Denton, Harry Jenkins, Sam Johnson,
James Mulligan, Howard Rutledge, Robert Shumaker, Ronald Storz and Nels Tanner.
These individuals had been leaders of resistance activities while in captivity
and thus were separated from other captives and placed in solitary confinement.
"Alcatraz" was a special facility in a courtyard behind the North
Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense, located about one mile away from Hoa
Lo Prison. In Alcatraz, each of the prisoners were kept in individual cells
measuring 3 feet by 9 feet with a light bulb kept on around the clock, and they
were locked in leg irons each night. (1)
In a book by
James C. Collins called Good to Great, Collins writes about a conversation he
had with Stockdale regarding his coping strategy during his period in the
Vietnamese POW camp.
“I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade."
When Collins asked
who didn't make it out of Vietnam, Stockdale replied:
“Oh, that's easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart."
The Africans in
Diaspora have a lot to learn from Stockdale. Indeed, the leaders are failing
the citizens and corruption is at its highest level. To hide their
inefficiency, African leaders manufacture conflicts, controversies and unleash
violence on their own people. If they are not breeding and arming militants,
they will be fermenting ethno-religious war among their people. These conflicts
variously empower them further as the citizens descend into deeper into poverty
while the gulf between the rich and poor widen.
Yes, leaders on
the continent have been holding their people hostage and pillaging the land.
Yes, many of the people have been willing accomplices in the game by becoming
tools in the hands of their own oppressors. They rig in favour of their own
oppressors, voted along ethno-religious sentiment and constitute themselves as
thugs for the politicians. There are always people colluding with these
leaders.
However, we
cannot deny the fact that there are many who desire positive change and are
working for these changes. They may not be in politics and may not be famous;
we see them daily through the little works they accomplish. These are the hope
of Africa. These are the people we should be looking up to and used to raise
the bar of expectation while working toward dismantling the cabals that are
holding the rest of us hostage.
There is no
point fretting over how bad things are at home. Yes, things are not the way
they should be. Every great nation passed through their difficult time
somewhere on the road to greatness.
It is not enough
to abandon your home perpetually because miscreants have taken over it. Do
everything possible (aside destroying the home) and chase them out. Don’t stay
away! Things are bad, and some are going bad, but our land will not go worse if
the good ones among us decide not to give up.
However in hoping
for better days ahead, we must retain our ability to combine realism with optimism.
Like Stockdale put it, “You must never
confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to
lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current
reality, whatever they might be." There is a gulf between dream and
fulfilment. It is called action; it makes the difference. It is not enough to
hope in better days ahead while we are in deep slumber. There should be
conscious efforts toward reaching the goals and we will record measurable
success, no matter how small if we have focus, conviction and determination to
see it to logical end. If we have decided that we will not commit suicide and
that we will reach our goals.
A toast to all
African in Diaspora (and those at home) who keep nurturing hope about motherland and are doing
their possible best to bring goodness to the land. Don’t relent and don’t allow
yourself to be frustrated. When the stories of success are written, your names
will be etched in stone.
Remain focused, don’t
stay away!
E go beta!
Isqil Najim ( @isqilnajim on twitter)
NB: This piece
was originally written to selected friends in Diaspora
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