My Heart Bleeds

Today, I’m not about to give you the normal inspirational article. No, I’m here to vent my anger because there’s so much injustice in this country and I’m not just about to sit down and watch my country go down the drain.

I know that everyone is aware of the Dana Air crash that happened on Sunday the 3rd of June in Lagos. Yes, we all mourned, three days of mourning, people tweeting their condolences, others changing their display pictures to candles and putting RIP on their BB status.

The president declared three days of mourning across the country. How was the mourning observed? With flags just flying at half mast! Oh my God! Everyone has returned to their respective places of business, offices and shops are open for business, the president is off to attend to other pressing issues and that’s it! Then why on earth did he declare the three days of mourning? No prayers were said, no special services held, no special dress code to honour the dead or black bands worn…nothing. Just three days “for mouth”.

Have we sat down to really think deep about the crash? The souls lost, the lives destroyed, destinies cut short. How do you think the people on board felt, at that last minute when the plane made its way to the ground? Women thinking about their kids and husbands they left at home, parents wondering who would take care of their kids when they are gone, parents who looked at all their kids that were seated with them on board that aircraft, children in utter fear, crying for their helpless parents to come to their aid. Now, what about the people that were just enjoying the day with their families in their houses and had no clue that evil was about to befall them.

Yes, indeed, the Dana Air plane crash was a big blow to Nigeria and the nation got the blow in the groins. About 170 people died in the incident but it seemed like the entire nation of 150 million people had one connection or the other to the individuals on the ill-fated plane.

I don’t know about anyone else but as far as I am concerned, justice must be served. It’s about time we Nigerians stood up for our rights so as to save our lives. If the government and the other people in power are too “busy” to be concerned about the lives of its people, then we have to stand up and force them to do their duty!

Do we have to wait for disasters like this to happen before we are jolted to life and do what is right? Why do we like to look for the solution after something has happened? Is it not logical to use preventive measures instead of waiting for the sickness to hit before we start research to get the drug that will cure the illness? Crying over spilt milk has always been the case in Nigeria. Why can’t we put the lid on the bottle of milk before it spills?

I feel anger in my spirit over this incident. I am hurt and I’ve had sleepless nights. Why did this evil have to happen? At first I thought of blaming God for not preventing this disaster. Well, I can’t. God will not come down himself and fix the plane. Some body somewhere had the responsibility of making sure the plane was in good order. In my head, I’ve thrown the blame back and forth on different individuals and agencies. As the thought was gong on in my head, a broadcast came to my phone and I got my answer. I thought it wise to share it with you and God bless whoever wrote this.

“On hearing about the plane crash, I decided to board a Cross Country bus back to Lagos. After all passengers were boarded, a customer asked the driver to put on the air conditioner, the driver’s response was: ‘its not working’, everyone on board took it as fate including I, saying to myself ‘just get me to Lagos air conditioner or not’ but the dissatisfied customer did not stop. He called the customer care number on his ticket, and insisted that the reason he travels Cross Country is because of their services,and asked why this was changing. To my greatest surprise, the bus was changed and an air conditioned bus was provided, that’s when it struck me.”

Shame on the person that sent the broadcast saying he had flown in the said aircraft before, and witnessed the problems. Why did he not send out a broadcast then and perhaps his complaints might have reached the aviation minister. Shame on the engineers that are just telling us now that the plane was 22 years old and should have never hit airspace, shame on everyone sending silly broadcast sms, saying your picture or mine would never be used with Rip next to it, because that’s all we are content with. Once we, our family and our friends are safe, we keep on striving powerlessly in this country that has shattered our dreams and hopes. I don’t plan to live forever and I consider it a privilege to be on a lot of peoples DP when my time comes. It would simply mean I stood for something. Worse of all, shame on all those who signed a condolence broadcast just to be associated with the stars who signed before them. I really don’t understand how that would change anything, it’s not the country or our leaders that are the problem, it is us, we are killing ourselves. If we do not reject this our submissive way of life we would continue to die in our thousands. I am not pointing fingers at anyone, we are all guilty, I am just saying it is time we stood up and made a change or we’ll keep dying.

Once again, a big thank you to the person that wrote this. We need to wake up and smell the coffee. Let us renew our minds. Let us change our orientation. I implore you all, when you see something going wrong, stand up for your rights. Speak up. You may not just be saving your life or that of your friends but that of an entire generation.

I am hoping that the real cause of this disaster will be investigated and made public. I hope that the management of Dana Air will not close the mouths of some officials with Ghana-must-go bags. I am waiting to see how the families of the victims will be compensated. Will the airline just give them a meagre N5million each and send them away? Will the government do something that will serve as a memorial/monument to remember this incident by? Who is going to represent the families of these victims legally before the big shark company called Dana swallows them up with intimidation?

My heart goes out to everyone who lost somebody in the crash. May God grant you the grace to deal with the loss. The Bible says that God is the father to the fatherless and the husband to the widow. His Favour will be upon you and his eyes will never depart from your family. Know that you will always be in my prayers.

Credit Stella Damasus. 

Culled From PM News