By Gideon Nma Scott, Jr.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is hanging on a cross, with two men hanging on different crosses by his side-one on the right and the other on his left.
As it is described in the Holy Gospel of Luke 23:39-42, “And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, if thou be the Christ, save thyself and save us. But the other answered him, saying, dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed, justly, receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he turned to Jesus and said, Lord, remember me in paradise.”
Apparently, many other persons who were in the rain and sun, tramping in mud and bathing in pupu water along with Boakai and his Rescue Train, to ensure that he won the election, are saying to him from their secret corners, “Remember us in your kingdom, Mr. Boakai”.
During the course of the campaign, many of these persons sacrificed their personal egos, their reputation, their jobs, friendships, and relationships during public debates and discussions on why Boakai was best suited for the nation’s top job; some campaigned for senatorial and representative candidates and didn’t care what was said or done to them, in as much Boakai was presented in a positive fashion to the public.
But, like the guy on the cross who rebuked Jesus, many of their critics are rebuking them as their names have not been mentioned in the over 1,000 appointments that have been made by the President, making them to think that there is no room in Boakai’s house for them.
The gentleman who pleaded for Jesus used a specific word, ‘REMEMBER’.
To remember is to have in mind or be able to bring to one’s mind an awareness of someone or something that one has seen, known, or experienced in the past. This is what the man on the cross was telling Jesus. Keep me in your mind as you have experienced my defense for you, that’s why you and I are on our various crosses, that I am aware that you are blameless, but we are here for our own wrongdoings.
This is why the followers of Boakai who are feeling left out of his engagements are calling on him to remember the different encounters they had, walking in the rain and mud together, and sometimes even sharing similar or different views on what approach was to be taken to ensure that they, collectively, emerged victorious.
As the gentleman was assured by Jesus that He would remember him in Paradise, similarly, Boakai assured many of his supporters that he would have remembered them in his government, but apparently, he did not see how small his government would have been.
Now that the reality of the government has presented itself to the leader, it is just and prudent not to forget those that were in the trenches with him.
I want to remind all those persons who stood with Boakai, especially the faithful few in District 15, who were promised paradise, that Jesus did not go straight to Paradise on the day of execution, but rather, to the grave, to resurrect three days later, and I am thinking too that their professional souls may gallivant for a while before they can be remembered in Boakai’s paradise.
I also want to tell Mr. Boakai that, as Jesus did not keep the soul of that thief wandering for long and hastened to resurrect and escort him to paradise before opening the tomb, he too should not keep the professional souls of his faithful wandering, before they become a laughing stock to their critics. Remember, procrastination is a theft of time…
The thought of the son of a professional Kru woman…
