“I understand why they cut off her head”
The year was 2013. That summer, we took a trip to France. My daughter was excited about visiting to the Louvre and Notre Dame. She also wanted to see Monet’s lilies. My son was just hyped about seeing new places.
Before the trip, I gave them a short synopsis of significant French history, dwelling on the 18th century – the Revolution, Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI and the beheadings. I explained how the people went hungry while the nobility feasted and built palaces.
My daughter asked if Marie Antoinette really said, “Let them eat cake”.
I said it was probably not her words but that for most of the people, she was a symbol of why they were suffering.
We all fell in love with Paris. Each of us had a reason for the love affair. The Louvre, Notre Dame, the architecture, the shopping, the food, the art, the food, the romance…..did I mention the food?
And then was the visit to Le Château de Versailles.
Words cannot describe the opulence, the decadence, the raw smell of wealth and privilege.
My wife and daughter were just enthralled by the Queens’s Private Apartment. I just wondered how much it cost to build all that! My son wanted to play hide-and-seek!
Then we walked into the Hall of Mirrors. As we walked down this unbelievable space the royal family used for banquets, my daughter turned to me and said in her typically calm tone:
“I understand why they cut off her head”.
For minute I was taken aback. Then I smiled and said to her:
“You kinda get it, don’t you?”
She nodded.
This was a 10-year-old girl. Even at that age, she was exhibiting a sense of social justice.
It is astonishing then that some adults don’t have that or lose theirs.
I look back at the Ghanaian elections. I look at how convincingly Nana Addo shellacked John Mahama with over a million vote differential.
The reasons are pretty obvious. While the people struggled with rolling blackouts, high fuel prices, massive youth unemployment and rampant corruption, the ruling Unintelligent rolled around in their black V8s, blinded by hubris and ill-gotten wealth. The people may have been hungry but they were neither blind nor deaf. They certainly were not stupid and like the elephant (the symbol of the Nana Addo’s party – the NPP), they had a long memory.
Sure Mahama may have started massive infrastructure projects but did they really benefit the people or did they benefit his cronies who got those fat contracts?
So like my daughter, I sit back and say:
“I understand why they cut off the head of that corrupt government. I understand why Nana Addo won so convincingly. I understand why the people want change.”
Now being the season that it is, let us eat cake!