PERCEPTIONS

In his attempt to measure perception, Jesus asked his disciples; who do people say I am? They pleased him by answering; "the messiah" Finally, one of these 12 disciples who told him people call him Messiah betrayed him to the same people who called him Messiah for crucifixion. will anybody crucify his saviour? Who do you say I am? A liar? A traitor? or a good man?

Plato said; I do not know who people say I am but to me, I am but a little child moving through a vast world of knowledge in search of a little pebble to better my lot. He set aside what people think about him to set a definite objective for himself. By the end of his search, he should get a pebble to better his lot. His lot includes himself, family, community, constituency, country and most importantly generations yet unborn.

It is bad to allow public perception to bug you down though from time to time, it is prudent to measure your performances based on this same perception. In the run up to the 2006 presidential primaries of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), it was perceived and 'polished' to look as if the president, H. E. John Evans Atta Mills was so ill he could not lead the party to victory. 5 years on, he is a very strong president preparing to go again for the July 8 -10 2011 primaries towards election 2012. He ignored the perception then and succeeded.

On December 29, 2010, an incident occured in the Biakoye District. One name took centre stage in some circles for the bad reasons and in another for good reasons. Kwame Dennis was bastardised for casting his vote in the District Assembly elections at a time people of his village had decided not to take part in that election. He obviously had reasons for casting his votes. He voted without any problems at all. In the end, some youth were arrested for electoral misconduct. This arrest was attributed to him.

Rumours kept flying across the length and breadth of the country on what people think about him. What do people say about me? I most cases, the answer was; oh now things are calm and all is well. Today, I met a youth group to interact with them and the result was, "we are very angry at you" "we will never forgive you" Reported perceptions may mostly not be true.

From my interactions today, I realized that it is difficult to measure perceptions just the same way it is difficult to change perceptions. People will still link you to some acts in primary school even though you have graduated from the university. People will not stop perceiving you as a thief even though you are now a pastor

.Let us all learn to find out about issues without necessarily accusing innocent people for wrongs they have not committed. It is sad to hear that our prisons are full of innocent persons. We can make a difference if we pause for a minute ask why, how or who it really is.