When Martin Luther King made his now famous speech in which he stated that ‘I have a dream where my children will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character’ in 1963, the Ghanaian society was then trying to survive its many post independence problems.

Of course, Ghana was and is still one race nation as such there was no need to reflect on those words as a people. But I wish we had.

You see, for me, the basic meaning of that statement is that a person should not be judged by his race, religion, sex, or by any other association but by the depth of his character. Unfortunately we are in a society where we’ve got the underlying principle behind that statement totally wrong.

In the society we are living in now, if you don’t have money, or look a certain way, or know the right people, then I am sorry but your life is going to be difficult until you attain one or more of these ‘achievements’.

It really doesn’t matter that you are courteous, patriotic, kind, ready to help others, etc, if you don’t have what our society sees as valuable i.e. money then you are going to be talked down to most of the time.

I have been in Ghana for some time after staying abroad, and it saddens me greatly when I look at the way people treat other people, and sometimes me for whatever reasons they might have.

No matter what people say about living abroad, one thing I can confidently say is that apart from the occasional racial abuses you suffer, you are treated with utmost respect everywhere. It doesn’t matter if ride a bicycle or drive a Lamborghini, you would all join the same queue to be served.

Since I came into the country, and working as a GhanaCelebrites.Com correspondent I have had to deal with a few people in the entertainment industry.  Save a very couple of them, most of them are out rightly rude to you, and lack the basic manners and courtesy that an educated and exposed person should have.

For some reason, just the fact that you are a media person, and they are a person of authority in the entertainment industry is just enough reason for them to talk to you anyhow.

The last time, I visited a family I hadn’t seen for some time. In fact, I doubt I would be going there anytime soon after I saw the treatment meted out to the house help. This poor little girl was given the slap of her life just because she joined the kids in watching TV instead of washing the dishes. What happened to just cautioning her? It all boils down to what I have been talking about. We lack the ability to treat other people we deem beneath us with respect. Period.

For this alone, I know that the Ghanaian society has a very long way to go in terms of achieving its developmental dreams as there is no way you can move forward as a society if you can’t ensure that everyone is treated equally irrespective of how much they possess materially.

I long for the time that everybody and anybody will go through a day without being made to feel like they are a less human being to others because of what they don’t have.