Preamble
“Your thought makes your life
conduct; our attitudes are the results of our thoughts” Dr.
Munro Myles. This quote asserts the truth that, the way we practice and live is
the result of how we think indeed. The basic question here is “do we think and
act correctly?
I am writing this
article without intention of imposing colonialism mindset in our society, or
trying to deny our embedded culture that we enjoy. However, one has to read
through carefully to discover my entire intention for the betterment of our
country and other developing countries as well.
In fact, I am curious to see
the mindset of our generation is transformed into positive way with high level
of civilization; that could add to the advanced state of civilization and hence
contributes to the sustainable development.
For example, have you ever asked
yourself these questions: why we live in the societies where people cannot
respect the queues in the public services offices, banks and other offices?;
why people can steal road infrastructures such as electricity lights in the
cities high ways?; why people can break and steal the office buildings or
industries facilities?; why drivers do not respect zebra signs on the road?;
why people can walk along the cities throwing garbage and wastes all the ways
in the streets while there are special dustbins?; why people can smoke in the
public areas/transport facilities while it is prohibited?; why if you walk
around the streets, you can rarely greet people with smiles on their faces?;
why, if you walk around in the cities and towns, you see a lot of security
guards in front of shops and houses with guns while those shops/houses are
built with strong fences and grill doors/windows?; why people do not manage
time scheduled for meetings, works or appointments?; why people can set fire on
natural forests and kill animals blatantly?.
With all these questions plus many
others that you could ask more, I think you need to get the answer of which is
going to be the first step towards understanding and changing your mindset and
ultimately your attitude. The answer is simple, “lack of civilized thinking and
acting”. Again, this doesn’t mean that all people living in Tanzania and
developing countries are uncivilized, of course there some degree of
civilization though at low or medium level.
Introduction
The definition of
civilization according to the English dictionary is referred to as an ‘advanced
state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry,
and government has been reached[1]’.
It is advanced state of human being simply because there are things that one
cannot find in a lower thinking state of human beings life; in the lower thinking
state there are levels of primitive culture, less or no science discovery, low
level of industry and poor governance. I can simply say civilization is the
best way of thinking and doing things/actions.
Nevertheless, Sustainable
development refers to the practices of utilization of resources to meet the
needs of the present and future generation in the universe. In other way, "Sustainable
development is the development that meets the needs of the present, without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs[2]”.
In this case, civilization and sustainable development are interconnected
somewhere in their realities given how human being practices in their daily
life. Either Civilization has ingredient to the sustainable development or
sustainable development produces the civilization? Who knows? May be I am right
to say that, without civilization “ceteris
Paribas[3]”,
no sustainable development can be realized in any country in the world. A
country can try hard to develop but if its people are lacking civilized minds
and actions, sustainability is jeopardized.
Civilization
in the Developed countries Versus Civilization in the Developing countries
In August, 2014, I first
landed in the Netherlands; this is among the countries that are found in the developed
World. Yes it is a developed World, why? Because, what I saw and realized in my
stay of about 15months is that, in this society, there is high level of culture,
science, industry, and governance in practice. I observed things that I never
or rarely observed in my home country of Tanzania. Things such as good and
impressive roads and building infrastructures constructed more than 90 years
ago and their status looks like constructed just six months ago!; a very
impressive way of public services delivery in the public/private offices; high
peace and security you can walk in the street at midnight alone, no street
robbers; low level of social crimes; no grill doors/windows on shops and living
houses; high level of consciousness in time management; high level of personal
honest in terms of relationships and communication; Freedom of expression and assembly
in practice; high quality and standardized products; high level technologies
both in Agriculture and Industries; very clean cities; buildings built in
1600’s but still have new look.
It is in
this country where prostitution business is legally allowed and women are
earning their life through prostitution “bitching”
business; the government collects revenue through tax from the prostitution business
sector.
I spent some times
travelling to other countries such as Germany, Belgium and Northern Ireland,
where was similar observations. In fact, I discovered that, these people are
living in a very different ways of life conduct indeed; I was puzzled but I
came to conclude that “Civilization” is what maintaining all these good things
to their countries; that’s why they are seem to be in another better world of
development “Developed world”.
The
reality can never be denied in life, whether we like or not, these are the
people with high level of not only civilization but also self-civilization
thinking. Of course, besides all the good things, these countries experience
some social economic problems as well but in different pace as compared to the
countries in developing world, Africa in particular.
The opposite side of
the coin, if one has been in Europe [in the developed World] and has realized
all the aforementioned things and ways of living, he or she will agree that,
there is no match with developing countries.
This is why; developing countries
are characterized by low level of not only economic development but also
unsustainable development. I sometimes ask myself “why are we here as of today
aging over 50 years since we attained independence? I know one can answer this
question by referring to historical background of being colonized by these
countries situated in the developed world, yes indeed.
However, I would recommend
arguing beyond the point of colonization and considering this factor of “Civilization”.
For example, since we were left by the colonialists, how much roads, buildings
and industrial infrastructures we constructed? Think of their status or
situation as of today, what do you see?. Actually, it is in the developing free
countries like Tanzania where one is willing and happy to take away/steal the
public highway road electric lights; the bridge/railway irons for personal
uses; one is willing to transport overweight cargo on the multi billions
constructed roads…sabotage everywhere!.
With this kind of uncivilized thinking
what do you expect in the perspective of sustainability of those social
economic infrastructures? Shakespeare once he said, “There is nothing good or bad, it is our thinking that makes it so”.
This means, civilization is the way of personal living, a way of thinking and
practicing in life, this meaning marks the difference between the people in the
developing world and those in developed world.
In fact, the governments in the developing
countries are struggling too much to bring about social economic development
something which is real appreciated. However, they forget to impart this new
way of thinking to the generations so that, what they are making should be of
sustainable in the development perspective. The generations in the developed
world are sharped their mind in a way that, everyone is responsible to protect
the available and new infrastructures; to protect resources to meet the needs
of not only the present generation but also the future generations.
What
lesson can we learn and change?
There is a Swahili
statement that says “Tembea uone”
meaning that, “walk around and see”. The thing here isn’t only to walk around
and see but also to learn and to undergo changes in thinking and practices
given the good things you have seen.
I know, I am not the only person who have
walked around the world and see good things, there are several other people;
others are my fellow countrymen who have seen
even more good things than what I have seen in Europe; some are
government officials as well. But what are the lesson do we bring to teach/impart
the generation of the developing countries to facilitate changing their
thinking?. In my views, the following are the issues that the generations of
the developing world must learn from and change by putting into practices in
their daily life.
Civilization is not
something you can buy, it is something that is personally created and
developed. The developed world people did this since the beginning of
industrial revolution in the 16th centuries, and inherited
throughout the generations.
The environments for
the people to be civilized should be created and developed, these include
putting emphasis on family re-constructions and mindset transformation programmes
through education, mosques and churches institutions. Among the priorities of
the government therefore should be to enhance these sectors. The developed
governments did this hundreds of decades ago successfully.
Law enforcement is not
only the best measure or solution to discipline and make the society civilized.
Actually, if people are self-civilized, there is a very low possibility of law
breaching in the society. Example, in a civilized society like that of the
developed world, police forces and court are relaxed having very little or no
criminal cases backlogs.
Investing in the best
family attitude building is the preparation of the best civilized Nation on
Earth where sustainable development can be realized. Definitely, if there is no
civilization in a Nation, all that we do shall never sustain present and the
future generations.
Changes
is possible to Tanzanians
Appreciation for the
few citizens with civilized thinking and actions; For the others, we are not
rigid enough to changes, towards better thinking and acting, all is just because
we tune our mind in that way of thinking. But changes are possible if we can
try starting self- determination and thinking even from the family scratch is better.
Living aside what the government can do in investment to promote economic
growth/development, we, as citizens whom we construct the societies and we have
a sole responsibility to change the way we think and act in our daily life. If
we realize this fact and put into practice, we shall be able to use and enjoy
what we have in our country for many years. In fact, all development projects
that are geared towards benefiting the people would have long life span with little
or no rehabilitations. Ironically, a person with self-civilized mind cannot be
able to corrupt or misuse his or her authorities; destroy or steal
infrastructure instead of protecting it.
Opportunity
for further researches
It would be of paramount
important if one could be interested to explore the issues beyond reasonable
doubts on civilization context. For example, how civilization contributes to
the sustainable development?. I therefore, encourage researchers to look at
this neglected component of development paradigm.
Conclusion
Civilization is a man-made
thing that is created through one’s life endeavors. In order to realize sustainable
development, we need to reconsider “Civilization” as one of the significant
factors for economic advancement and sustainable development.
About
the writer
The
writer of this article is Mr.Jackson
Bulili, he is a professional Development specialist, Trainer, Agribusiness
Expert and Economist. He
obtained Masters of Development studies
major in Economics of Development from Erasmus University of Rotterdam, in The
Netherlands and Bachelor of Science with Agricultural Economics and
Agribusiness from Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. Email: bulili.jackson1@gmail.com Mobile: +255785348972/+255754338911,
Morogoro, Tanzania.
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