Never Mind!

It is amazing how devastating narrow-mindedness can be or has been to humanity irrespective of race, gender and society. Israel (Yisrael in Hebrew) meaning [He Holds Onto The Heel Of God], got pegged and languished in Egypt (Mitzrayim in Hebrew) [meaning - The Narrow Place] fairly due to their narrow-mindedness. As the good book paints this masterpiece of an experience, even after been delivered in a never been seen or heard before way, led and fed in the wilderness via an innovation and creativity strategy that the world has yet to or will never comprehend, given victory in a never been seen battle strategy not depicted in the art of war, majority of those saved still chose to go back to the narrow place that took an innovativeness of the Almighty and obedience of a stammerer to bring them out from. From one complaints to another they swapped their place in life, destiny and promised land for a shallow grave in the desert. A journey that should have taken 40 days of continuous wonders ended up costing them 40 years of wanderings. This piece is just to enlighten each and everyone of us about this issue of narrow-mindedness. 

What is narrow-mindedness?

The dictionary defines Narrow minded as not willing to accept opinions, beliefs, behaviors, etc. that are unusual or different from one's own : not open-minded. 

From the lenses of the Bible, on which my philosophies are anchored, I say it is the ability to think in a restricted or restrictive form. It could be thinking in the box but never out of the box. It is thinking in a way based on archaic traditions, tradition been defined as 'electing the dead to lead the living.' The narrow-minded, despite having perfect sight and under a bright sun might not see, despite having abundance might still go hungry, despite having shelter might still die of cold. 

The narrow-minded follows without asking questions but are as disobedient as a stubborn goat. They represent false followership and false loyalty that will jump ships at any given sign of delusional comforts. There's more hope for a pig to fly than for a narrow minded person to embrace the truth. 

You might be thinking that  narrow-mindedness is only in the community of the poor. You'll be surprised to know that it is as evident in the community of the haves as well as the have-nots. Narrow-mindedness knows no colour, shows no favouritism, and only answers appropriately to those who gives it a gazing audience and suitable environment for growth. To test my hypothesis all you need is to take a good look around you, For instance, what makes the political leaders in the so-called third world countries, despite corrupting corruption, despite gloriously seating themselves and loved ones at the upper echelon of the table, and grafting themselves to the most resourceful side of their nation's national resources, choose to ignore the incessant cries of their people for the basics on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It made me ponder how much does a man need to be rich. Consider the rich who still engage in tax evasion, look at some shambolic decisions still been made by those in authority which actually gives slavery and colonialism a good image. Comrade, narrow-mindedness is a menace both to the rich and poor.

Through the support of numerous homo-sapiens, narrow-mindedness are now organic to so many organizations, institutionalized by many institutions and nationalized by so many nations. All to the result of the destruction of the human race. 

For both haves and have-nots, narrow-mindedness could be in the form of calling for change instead of being the change. It could be in the form of selling your votes, just like Esau sold his birthright for a morsel of meat. It could be in the form of withholding more than you need, cheating others to their rights and properties, gluttony, oppression and suppression, lack or insufficient or self-glorifying charitable activities and so on and on and on. 

I get it, your present narrow-mindedness might not have been your doing, but you are responsible for still remaining narrow-minded after the eyes of your understanding has been enlightened. 

To conclude, the scripture have rightly depicted how the chosen people of Y'Israel despite having the backing of God Himself, yet still reaped the dividend of narrow-mindedness. Which only buttresses one fact, that favour with the Divine requires a growth enabling mindset to be implemented. The favoured can still suffer if their mind (Phil 2v15) and outlook defers from that of the Divine. Therefore, to truly transform our world to the Utopia of our dreams we all need a change of minds and perspectives. We all need to give change a chance. We all need to commit to the rehabilitation program presented by the Divine. We all need to welcome the new horizon and transition from the narrow place to the/our promised land. 

Shalom aleichem

Babasile Daniel I