24/04/2024
'AGBACHAA OSO, AGUO MILE'
The saying, "Agbachaa oso, aguo mile" is popular. It translates: after the race, the miles covered are then ascertained.
The success race or journey is different.
Each step taken towards a goal must be thoroughly evaluated if success is to be achieved.
The process determines the quality or even the quantity of the result.
In the field of chemistry, an area has emerged which is concerned with the stepwise approach towards reducing environmental pollution through monitoring and evaluating the processes which give rise to them - Green Chemistry.
The focus here is the process.
Prevention is done in the process phase.
No one prevents malaria by giving medication to the patient who is already infected, except if a vaccine for this purpose is developed.
The principle upon which green chemistry operates should guide our daily activities.
A lot of people will rather complete a task, or reach 'the point of no return', before realising why they missed their track.
When we have a goal before us, we often fall victim to the tendency of focusing on the final outcome. This could distract our minds from the little components which make up the big picture. If these variables are carefully considered, chances are high, we get the expected result. Remember, in biology, you start learning about the whole organism by learning, in details, the cells, tissues, organs and systems (depending on the type of organism) .Failure to understand how these units function in multicellular and unicellular organisms, would mask the understanding of the whole organism!
So, it is not after a race that the miles are counted. Each of the steps in a race count!
We must therefore, start appreciating those little steps in our goals, with the understanding they accumulate to decide the outcome.
Chidi Prosper Rufus.
