There's a bank in my vicinity, reputed for its poor services.
Withholding of debit cards, debiting of customers without dispensing cash, lack of service to carry out transaction when one is in dire need are but few of its ineptitudes.
It's inanities is a common song in the lips of its customers.
You should've trusted me to keep my distance from that open symbol of mediocrity, but because of its proximity to my house and due to the fact that it's a branch of the bank my mother is banking with, I sometimes have little to no choice but to grudgingly perform a transaction there.
There was this particular day I wanted to transfer some funds to my kid sister via their teller machine using my debit card. After trying severally without success, my card was eventually withheld by their machine. With the help of a security operative attached to the the bank, I was able to get my card back.
After retrieving the card, I still went ahead with the transaction; that should explain how important the transaction was. This time around, I was much more careful. It was then that I discovered that the fault was mine and not entirely the bank's or its machine.
My sister had opened a new bank account with another bank, that was the account details she sent to me, not her old bank account details that I was already familiar with. All along I have been selecting her old bank's name. The transaction wasn't successful due to the disparity between the account number and the bank's name.
After discovering my fault, I corrected myself and successfully carried out my transaction. When I was done, a lot of thought bumped into my mind.
How many times have we blamed a system that is already famous for its incompetence, without caring to check within us, if the fault could possibly come from our ends?
Take for example, those of us in a third world country like Nigeria, with an economy that's already performing far below its best, it is easy for us to excuse our incompetence and simply blame it on the failed state of the nation, even when we know that sometimes the fault could be ours.
Though the state of things here is bad; no need trying to sugar-coat the fact, but I have seen and personally met with young men and women who are driving innovations and attracting investment worth hundreds of millions, in this same economy.
It's true that our counterpart in saner climes would have it easier than us, but we can still thrive and we should.
The state of the nation should be no excuse for lack of competence, poor service delivery, lack of accountability, irresponsibility, unskillfulness, sheer laziness, not being innovative, mediocrity, entitlement mentality and whatnot.
It's the height of hypocrisy to constantly wail about the oddities around you but yet become blind to the ones within you.
The system is actually not at its best like the bank in my area, but just like me, there's always a big possibility that the fault could ours instead.
It's always profitable to scrutinize ourselves much more than we would ever scrutinize others.
Self evaluation, even if it's only but for the benefit of the doubt, is the bedrock of self development and personal growth.
Dearly esteemed friends, Just two words for you; Check within.
I hope this made sense to you?
I would love to know.