The reason Africa remains deeply underdeveloped is not because we lack resources, talent, or intelligence. It is because we are slaves to a culture that worships age, power, and silence.
A culture that demands you bow, kiss feet, and nod in agreement, even when everything is crumbling before your eyes.
Speak up as a young person? You are seen as disrespectful. Challenge an elder with logic? You are arrogant. Demand accountability? You are a troublemaker.
Our system is wired to protect egos, not progress. Instead of encouraging open, uncomfortable conversations that solve problems, we prefer a society where the young must play dumb, smile, and say, “Yes, please,” while watching the same cycle of incompetence and failure continue.
The average adult cannot engage in a rational, fact-based discussion without making it personal, wounding you with past mistakes, deflecting with irrelevant examples, or pulling rank to remind you that you are “just a child.”
The words “I was wrong, I am sorry” seem to burn their tongues. And when you finally understand this, you see how broken the system truly is accountability and responsibility are not just lacking; they are seen as threats.
But the real villains? The gas lighters. These are the ones who say, “Feel free to speak your mind; nothing will happen.”
But the minute you do, they gossip, mock your ideas, undermine you in meetings, and ensure nothing ever changes. They invite you to talk, not because they value your thoughts, but because they need new content for their backroom ridicule.
Then there’s the “equalizers” the ones who know they’ve messed up but refuse to own it. Instead, they drag you into the mud of your past errors, screaming, “But you also got it wrong last year!” as though your mistake justifies their incompetence today. These people are everywhere in offices, families, and
government. They are the reason we are stuck.
But here’s the ultimate plot twist the same adults who dismiss you today will bow before you if you suddenly become rich, powerful, or famous. Watch how the 45-year-old managers who belittled your ideas suddenly becomes humble when they meet a 21-year-old millionaire. Respect is not based on merit or wisdom; it’s bought with money and status.
And the saddest part? The most vicious perpetrators of this system are often those who suffered under it. They endured humiliation and struggle, and instead of breaking the chain, they become the new gatekeepers. “I suffered, so you must suffer too.” That’s the mentality. That’s the curse.
This is why we are where we are as a continent rotting under the weight of fragile egos, fake respect, and a crippling fear of honest conversations.
This is not to say young people are saints. There are rude, lazy, and reckless ones among us. But here’s the truth: Experience should make you better, not bitter. It should teach you to fix the wrongs you endured, not repeat them.
Until we confront this culture head-on, until we normalize accountability, humility, and honest dialogue, Africa will remain exactly where it is: full of potential, but going nowhere.
The curse will live on.
Unless we kill it.
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