The Animal called 'Mediocrity'

In recent times, we often hear this ten-letter word slip out of the mouths of the Ghanaian citizenry. This word has, on many occasions been used to describe issues related to developments and achievements in Ghana. Matter-of-factly, this ten-letter word has been adopted in the description of the country Ghana and its continent Africa at large. It has become too prevalent that it serves as a yardstick to judge every kind of self and national development that takes place in the country. Every day on my radio, I hear this word used more than I hear the name of the president; it is as though there is a man named mediocrity controlling the affairs of individuals and that of the state. This got me thinking and I resolved to ask a simple question, do people really understand this ten-letter word, or is it also another adopted political jargon as in the case of the word ‘gargantuan’ where people go to the extent of describing their day as gargantuan; ‘my day was gargantuan!’ they say, rather ignorantly. To play the devil’s advocate let me extend a helping hand of explanation to what the word gargantuan actually means; gargantuan is simply something that is immerse, huge, massive, gigantic, enormous, large among others; this definitely brings to bear that no one’s day can be described as gargantuan unless of course their day experienced a great bomb explosion, which is very unlikely in our part of the world.

Now back to our subject matter, what then is all the hullabaloo surrounding the word mediocrity? Mediocrity, originally from its adjective form ‘mediocre’ simply means ordinary, common, average, middle-of-the-road, inferior, unremarkable, unexceptional, undistinguished, amateurish and the list goes on and on… The Oxford Dictionary defines mediocre as; of only average quality not very good, the Cambridge Dictionary on the other hand defines mediocre as; quite good or not very good. I personally choose to define mediocrity as beating a little above the ‘below’ belt.

Imagine a footballer who takes a penalty shoot-out with the ball hitting one end of the goalpost and bounces back without it entering the net; we are supposed to interpret it as the footballer ‘nearly scored a goal’ as against accepting the obvious fact that it is a matter of incompetence on the side of the player. Or a student who overtakes his/her classmate academically to occupy the last but one position and we are supposed to celebrate it as a great achievement as against the fact that it is not an event that merits any celebration; sincerely speaking, how much effort does it take to take the place of a classmate in the last but one position? Or better still, in cases where the government uses our taxpayer’s money to build infrastructure and the citizenry is expected to applaud the government for doing what it is mandated and being paid to do. Even worse when telecommunication networks alert you that the call you made was ‘free’ after you had already paid enough money to subscribe to that service. All these scenarios I have stated are a bunch of mediocrities that are celebrated and applauded by the people of our country.  The Bible also paints a clearer picture of what mediocrity truly means during the time Jesus Christ admonished His Disciples and Followers to show love to their enemies and not to hate them. “If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. ” He said (Matthew 5:46-48 NLT). Simply put, loving only those who love you is not a great achievement it’s an instance of mediocrity. Similarly, being kind only to your friends is not a bad thing but it is a perfect instance of mediocrity; this goes a step further to enlighten us on how unhappy we make our Lord and Savior when we do things in a mediocre manner.

Let’s take a critical look at the things we do in our life and list out the aspects of your life where you have adopted this animal called mediocrity as a pet. Study this aspect of your life and find out ways and means you can improve on your performance both at work and in your relationship with others. Be at your maximum best at all times despite the fact that the government, the Ghanaian citizenry  and Africans are highly skilled in mediocrity, you can still be that difference the world needs.

Always remember that it is your duty to be perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect and besides you will only be remembered when you put your utmost best in what you do, as for being ordinary and a mediocre, there are millions of us out there.

#Be Divergent

# See you at the TOP!

Atsu Dogbey

(theDogbeyLeague)

#LetsAllWrite