A very little mistake a pilot does could be so costly and deadly. We might not easily forgive him and yet you could call that “pilot error”. Errors abound everywhere human lives exist no matter how experienced we are especially when we fail to adhere to good precaution. During such moments all the levels of expertise an individual possesses is exposed to real danger.
I remember clearly with awe and shock the sort of wrong impression I left for several hours in the mind of one of my well-renowned female bosses on a certain particular occasion. During an interaction with her one afternoon I obviously missed an alphabet letter ending one of the words I suggested to her. My prime motive was not that of using an impolite expression when I rolled out my words, “Madam, you people…” instead of rendering a more conversational, jovial and a more excellent speech by the similar version, “Madam, your people….”.
No matter how comical one expected the said statement to appear, an error of this sort to an IS Analyst would be termed as a “human error.” He would have thus aptly granted this as a remark if he or she were present and place a pat on the shoulder of the person involved with the mistake in humour. Nevertheless, our everyday spoken “language” is quite different from an IS “terminology.” They are totally different tools no matter how similar they could appear.
We are all celebrating this Easter season recently. Both Christians and non- Christians. Many people have not yet forgiven themselves and they can hardly forgive the deadly mistakes society perform during the past holidays. To several people it is an honourable period but again it is riddled with the Devil’s violence and atrocities. They simply cannot put the pieces of jig-saw puzzles together in their exact places when you lead them to the right conviction that the Easter occasion is partly to remember that Jesus Christ has purchased complete liberty and salvation for all mankind. And that the glorious deed was done by Christ over 2000 years ago.
Remembering, honouring and celebrating these moments is no offence to the intelligence of these people. Yet why is diverse human activities done during this period prone to pain, loss and gross disgust and errors? My suggestion is not a complex one but helpful as well. Just take the alphabet letter “d” and place it at the beginning of the word “evil”. It sounds quite strange, rather disgusting, it aggravates and worsens the previous temperature of the extremely unpleasant aforesaid word. It is also like spoiling altogether the sad state of a delicious local soup you are trying to make palatable by piecemeal when you are faced with the discovery that you had added a further extreme amount of salt contents of the soup.
There is not much harm done in this world of ours as far as the issue of “trial and error” is discussed in any given experience to the end that one’s lifestyle is made better by it. That is why a government of a nation at some given point in time would often roar and in excitement coupled with anxiety state that they need a fresh and a new mandate. And if I am granted the full permission to speak further on this subject I would say that is why sometimes the populace would rather say their choice is one for an individual to carry on forward with the mandate. Whatever the case may really be, it is one thing that the mandate being requested for is “new” when it is related to the occasion. Perhaps too the person carrying on forward with and launching the mandate is a “new” figure.
A different school of thought would assert that “trial and error” is not much important because at certain times when it is needed in our society. (This might be so since it is said that the “Devil you know is better than the Angel you don’t know”.)
This school of thought would tellingly talk to you about the false faith that many situations or instances in life might well be better left unabated and unsolved since wars and battles over evil and over the devil begun since time immemorial. To such fellows from improving upon our basic mistakes , to that of putting in checks and balances to stop the unusual tide of evil that engulf our communities during Easter time, to even introducing a more luxurious technological device is not very worthwhile in this century not for any centuries to come too.
Howbeit, we might well say any “devil” is a “devil”. This is similar to any kind of “Evil” also which is “evil” and must be condemned no matter where we discover it. The best solution therefore is to stop the “devil” from entering upon the scene and moreover to help avoid occurrences of “evil” in our interactions with people, in any institution, and in our society.
Why then do we further cling our hearts to the outdated popular expression the “ Devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know”?
Why do we fail to consider the potency of the evil done to our younger and upcoming generations around us when we feed their hearts and their minds with very negative impressions like this particular one? What sort of impressions do we imprint upon the memories of our beloved and our well respected hearers when we say such a thing? Why would every reader of this piece not fully agree with the fact that, The weakest angel you know is sometimes better than the strongest angel you don’t know?
The bare facts are that soon and as soon as you realize your “angel” is a weak one, you’re halfway outs of the woods or the thick forests. The next action you are expected to embark on is that you carefully and wisely decide upon going to find out which “angel” not so distant form you is a strong one. With the great human limitations that find its way to the surface upon the stormy waters that vehemently rise against humanity and our society during Easter seasons well kept and registered at the back of our minds, it is our great duty as individuals to live a life highly guarded life from henceforth during such seasons and afterwards.
We are reminded by the history of the Christian faith that the period of forty days “Lent” season on the Christian Calendar denotes a period which should be set aside for fasting and praying. Could it be probably rightly said that the Christian world which existed long, long before us did think that since time immemorial such a period (assumption that prior to Easter and during Easter time ) was a time of great visitation of danger upon society no matter how sophisticated and how technologically advanced the world and generations to come would be?
Anyway, it serves everyone in our present society right to be a little more realistic about some basic warfare issues. Ask any once defeated enemy troop, At which particular time in your history of wars and warfare do you feel anger within your spirit and the temper rising up within your heart make you get to the point of brooding about retaliation and revenge? They would definitely say it was the time when they were totally overpowered, routed out and defeated. Probably they stood face to face with the danger of being annihilated and decimated.
I do not often attempt questioning many of my fellow- male folks when they tend to be serious with their talks and when they become quite rough and tough in their conversation and in their remarks, and when they would definitely say, “Women we have in our society- some within this category, some within that category- aren’t as serious with life’s precious matters as they’re expected to be”. They might be quite right: When the devil gets huffed and puffed up and thinks of sending against the world wild storms, tough and rough, or to put it in a much more realistic way, when enemy troops totally defeated sit down to ponder and brood over the terrible scars they sustained on the battlegrounds, all they could image of is doing the unthinkable.
Let’s use the weakest tools in our hands, They would quickly assert. During such moments you would not see it too strange a thing to hear in your ears jargons like women-for-free-sex, or a free-women-for-sex. I think I aptly read some few minutes ago from the Book of Proverbs 22:14 which reads, “The mouth of immoral women is a deep pit: he that is abhoured of the LORD shall fall therein”(KJV 2000).
We should encourage all and sundry to imbibe the attitude of seriousness and that of taking good precautions when a vital season like Easter approaches. We should further grant good counsel to our women folks and our able children encouraging them and enjoining the elderly and matured people in our communities and our societies to take to fervent prayers and partial fasts during such occasions.
Remember the “long lasting” Easter seasons if wrongly considered well would sound something like “long lusting”, and with that inordinate concupiscence within the heart of many a morally feeble folk here if not properly handled and taken cared of would “grow up” into something worse than immorality, for instance, large scale prostitution combined with violence and murder, armed robbery, destruction and sometimes deaths. These “evils” often occur at Easter.
By Ebenezer K N Baiden-Amissah
Legon Accra Ghana