Popularity can break more than make you
What you need to know:
Popular has got people following the crowds and doing things, not because they want to but because they want to be seen to be doing what everyone else is doing.
What is popular is not necessarily good. Take corruption. Most everyone sings about its evil, crying about how all the public servants will do anything to get a piece of the pie. Truth is almost everyone is involved in this.
The Cambridge International Dictionary describes corruption as illegal, immoral or dishonest behaviour. That means we have all been corrupt.
But let us look at the word, the way most Ugandans look at it, which is when someone pays or has been paid to do something illegal.
Although people blame government officials and huge companies, they too have involved themselves in corruption, paying the police some money so they can get away with breaking the law, paying the security guard something so they can get somewhere they are not allowed to, or conniving with clients to inflate the amount of money on the invoice so they can take something home.
This is so commonly practised in Uganda, you actually seem the fool if you do not do it, because it is popular.
Popularity is something many people want. They seek to be known as cool, unique or great. Popularity is not a bad thing, not until you start to do wrong in order to achieve it.
Popularity is what gives me sleepless nights when I see our daughters trying to dance the way queen dancers do in those music videos. Even though we are strict with what they watch on TV, they will pick up the strokes from schoolmates and from dance competitions at school.
Makes me wonder why the teachers would allow little children to go ahead and wiggle their behinds and dance in a manner that would make my 24-year-old sister frown! So the little girls do this because everyone is doing it. It is what will make you popular.
It is the same thing people do in the office, at school, in families and wherever else they feel they need to make a mark. Again, it is not bad to get people to like and think you are a special kind of person.
But popular is not necessarily good. Popular has made people make the wrong choices. Popular has taken promising people and crushed their potential and a bright future.
Popular has got people following the crowds and doing things, not because they want to but because they want to be seen to be doing what everyone else is doing.
Beware of being the popular person or doing the popular thing. It can end up working against you.
