There are a lot of people who blissfully go through life, being victims of things they could have avoided, by just acquiring better understanding about the issue.
I remember one day visiting a friend in East Africa, who was a senior government official. As we sat there, discussing current affairs, he became quite jovial about the travails on the international stock markets:
".... here we do not have stock markets, you see. Those Western capitalists are paying for their greed."
I did not reply, for a while, but just looked at him.
Then I said:
"... whether you like it, or not; whether you have a stock exchange or not; whether you think it was greed... The fact is you are going to be affected, because you are in a global economy."
Not long after the price of the precious metals, they exported as a country collapsed. The so called "donor money", became a trickle. Businesses began to shut down, children could not go to school, the hospitals had no medicine. Even the Chinese were not coming, in as many numbers anymore. My friend lost his job, in a reshuffle. Last I heard he was looking for a job, and had fallen on hard times. I hope he has now "connected the dots".
If you are to be an effective "nation builder", make it your business, to understand what is "really" happening in the economy, both nationally and globally. Don't allow yourself to be a victim, through ignorance or lack of interest.
So you read about an attack in Northern Nigeria, and you said to yourself, "I live in Lesotho, here in Southern Africa, how can it possibly affect me?"
To begin with it should concern you, because those are your brothers and sisters being murdered. In fact anytime there is bloodshed, anywhere it should concern you.
It will also affect you economically... Yes, right there in Lesotho, or Togo, or Zambia, or Timbuktu..
There are laws of economics, which work just like the laws of physics. If you violate them, or ignore them, or disrespect them; it will be like facing an armed bandit!
The End.
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