There is a story in the Holy Bible where Prophet Jesus is standing on a mountain top together with Satan. Satan is pointing out to the glory of the world and tells Jesus that all this will be his, but only if he joins Satan.
The prophet Jesus doesn’t fall for the temptation so Satan disappears from his presence. Jesus knew he was aimed for higher goals, so even if he understood that he would get a lot of power and wealth, he still stood his ground. How many of us are able to listen more to the angel sitting on one of our shoulders, instead of the Devil sitting on the other? Are we even aware that we have a choice? Do we care?
Not enough people care to resist the temptations, and that is why our world is ruled by greed and selfishness. Greed is leading humanity to corruption and criminality. Corruption is actually criminality in disguise, dressed in fancy suits and covered with sweet talk so no one can hear what is bubbling under the surface. ”What’s in it for me” is the first sentence in the national song of the Land of the Greedy. This is the land where people pretend to be pious, caring, responsible and serious, but everyone knows that all of this is a smiling mask that hides the smirk beneath. Those who try to wander the narrow road are pushed away and into the ditch by others who are in a hurry to get to the highway leading to unimaginary wealth.
There is a famous Australian rockband called AC/DC who made a song called ”Highway to Hell”.
I want to share the second verse of the song with you.
No stop signs
Speed limit
Nobody’s gonna slow me down
Like a wheel
Gonna spin it
Nobody’s gonna mess me around
Hey satan
Payin’ my dues
Playin’ in a rockin’ band
Hey mumma
Look at me
I’m on the way to the promised land
Chorus:
I’m on the highway to hell
Highway to hell
I’m on the highway to hell
Highway to hell
Don’t stop me
I’m on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
Highway to hell
I’m on the highway to hell
No stop signs, speed limit, nobody’s gonna slow me down. Is that what our corrupt leaders and businessmen are singing too? Arrogance comes with entitlement, and entitlement comes with the sense that you just don’t care about anyone else as long as the benefits comes in your direction. You believe that it is your right to have and to be given more, and you are so sure of yourself that others get blinded by your approach. You are even able to make others believe that you deserve what you get and that no one should question that. We have poor people who defend extremly wealthy people and say that it is God who has put them in their position so we should not question that or we would be questioning God.
Don’t you know that Satan can disguise himself to a sweet angel? That he is a fallen angel and by that he knows how angels should behave and is using these abilities when it suits him. Even Yaya Jammeh could be sweet and caring, when he wanted to. He was able to make girls believe that he was a father figure, until the day he raped them. He was able to hold people close and make them believe that he cared about their opinions until the day when he suddenly disliked their opinions and stabbed them in their backs.
It is hard to know whom you can trust, but by trusting your gut feeling you can come far and stay safe.
Some people say that the gut feeling, or the sixth sense, is only rubbish, but they are wrong. It is a matter of an inborn instinct that has saved the lives of the humanity since the beginning of our creation. The smallest and oldest part of the human brain, the amygdala, is the part that is responsible for all the automatic functions in our bodies. It controls our breathing, that our hearts are pumping, but it also controls our instinctive reactions in times of danger. The fight, flight or freeze response kicks in without a thought, but the ”kick” comes from our instinct that something is wrong. Our hearts beat fast to send out more blood to our brains and muscles. Our muscles get tensed so we can either fight our enemy or run away from it.
Freeze response is the same as ”playing dead”, to make the enemy believe that you are dead to avoid more violence. The brain gets focused on one thing only and that is how to solve the situation, but that is only after our instinct, our gut feeling, has been the spark that lit the chain reaction.
Nowadays, when we believe that we are above and beyond nature, that we are much more sophisticated than our ancestors, we don’t trust our senses and instincts. It is a pity, because these helped the humanity to survive and in many ways we are still just like our prehistoric ancestors. We have come out of our caves, and are not walking with our knuckles on the ground anymore, but the basics are the same. If we should learn to trust our instincts more, again, perhaps we could avoid a lot of trouble.
If we would trust our instincts, we could sense the smell of bulls**t that comes out from the mouths of the ones who try to make us believe that they are trustworthy and has the best intentions, when what they actually say or do is rubbish. We are showered with lies every day, but we are told to believe in them and not asking any questions. Journalists, who are the beacons who lit up the dark corners of our so-called democracy, are now told not to cover any stories that could be of the Government’s disapproval. During the times of slavery, the slaves were muzzled so they couldn’t protest against how they were treated by the slave traders. Journalists are muzzled so they can’t report our society’s downfall. Have our leaders been standing on the top of the mountain, together with Satan, and are now tumbling downhill, dragging us with them in the fall?
Last week, I questioned the airport security levy that was implemented in 2020. Minister Hamat Bah had in an interview told that his ministry was not informed about this levy. New information gives us that his ministry did know about it, but they disapproved it so instead it was implemented by the President and his associates. Why couldn’t Minister Hamat Bah have told us that from the beginning? Was he protecting his buddy, the president? Of course he was, they are standing there on top of the mountain, watching the poor Gambians when they are tumbling down, one after another. The high costs of living are making the people weak, but that is good because then they are too weak to protest and too afraid to speak to the journalists. Sad times are approaching. The Gambia is not smiling anymore.
