We should not accept mediocrity, That's not us!!

One of my best quotes from Colin Powell is about mediocrity.  He says ‘any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity’.  And I agree.  Being average is a fatal thing, if the majority of people around you settle for less than perfect, you will end doing the same, even if there was chance for you to be excellent.   

Unfortunately, the same is true with being orderly, law abiding and conforming to acceptable social etiquette.  The moment we are tolerant to anti-social behavior and transgressions, many of us start doing the same and at times even worse.  I have noted this to be true especially within our communities in the last 30 years.  Over time, we have accepted and become tolerant to some misbehavior, those who now speak out against these misdemeanors are called out – as if they are the ones who are wrong.  We are paying the price of accepting mediocrity in our communities as far as upholding regulations and rules is concerned.

I stay in a fairly organized gated community in the suburbs of Kampala.  Through community initiative and togetherness, we keep our community safe, clean and orderly, to an extent that makes some envy our community.  We are not perfect and there is still a lot more that can be done.   One day, as we all went on our lives, we noticed that someone had set up or was setting up an informal market stall – to sell the usual household consumables – charcoal, fresh foods etc.   There was immediate concern by many of us that this vacant plot will soon be covered with a number of market stalls and it is not planned to be a market in the midst of residences.  Apart from the urban design problems/issues that would be associated with a market sprouting in a place that was not designed to be a market like managing waste, noise and congestion, we were also concerned with the insecurity that other market support systems may bring with it.  The more sophisticated ones were concerned about orderliness.  As the debate raged on our Whats App group between those who were against this unplanned development and those who were for it, I could not help but note disappointingly what has gone wrong with us as a country.  One of the proponents for the stall to stay in place argued that this is a single woman trying to make ends meet and it does not matter if she has followed the city bye-laws and local authority planning regulations.  This is where she has found a market and space. The owner of the plot has allowed her to use it.  Rather than make life difficult for her, we should all support her so that her stock can grow.    It is a plausible argument from a humanitarian point of view, but where can one draw the line?  There are so many underprivileged people who can do so many things to earn a living but they will not because those activities contravene established social norms and/or statutory regulations.  Other supporters argued that we cannot stop ‘this poor lady from setting up her business under the guise of regulations when many of you here, break other statutory planning regulations like building in road reserves’ – again just because some people are already breaking the law, we should let others do the same?  

This same kind of thinking has slowly crept into our professional life.  A low level worker will be protected or even encouraged to defraud an employer of toilet paper, sugar or paper because she/he is trying to make ends meet and we can only understand her/his plight.  Instead of calling this out that it is plain wrong, sections of the community will say that he/she is being ingenious and after all those at higher levels do worse things.  In essence we are encouraging the culture of fraud, deceit, disorderliness and anti social behavior because people are being ‘resourceful’.

In one of my many social media rants against errant drivers, I stated that I had been appalled by an inconsiderate lady driver who had two kids, both possibly under 5 in her car, one on the co-driver’s seat (no safety belt) and another on her lap.  I argued that this is not only a danger to her and her family but it is also a big risk to other road users.  The responses were not only shocking that they were in her defense, but that many of them chose to attack me and to blame for a lack of understanding of what women go through to bring up kids.  In other words, she may be breaking that law but you should understand and let her do so.  Bringing up kids that age is such a hard job, you male chauvinist will never understand, don’t tell us about regulations.

We have become a nation of mediocrity when it comes to regulations and social behavior.  Many members of our communities have broken the laws and engaged in anti-social behavior and we have tolerated it for so long that we have now started accepting it and behaving in the same way.  In effect we are bringing up a generation of people who don’t respect rules, laws and regulations.  We are bringing up children who will grow up thinking that anti-social behavior is part of life.  

I refuse to accept this mediocrity. I refuse to be dragged down this road because I believe I still have a chance to influence those around me.