2 Mins Read
Editorial
ADNews-Monrovia, Liberia: As Liberia prepares to mark its 178th Independence Day on Saturday, July 26, 2025, the air is filled with excitement. For many privileged citizens, the occasion will be marked with luxury, shopping extravaganzas, lavish parties, expensive gifts for loved ones, trips abroad, and homecomings filled with merrymaking.
But in the midst of the jubilation, who is thinking about the poor?
While some dance to live music, feast on fine meals, and toast to freedom, the underprivileged, those in the ghettos, rural communities, and slum neighborhoods, will sit quietly in their corners, watching from afar as others celebrate. Their hearts heavy, their tables empty, they will wonder if Independence Day has any meaning for them.
Even the political actors who once needed their voices to ascend to power will be nowhere to be found. Those officials, who live in luxury funded by the taxes of ordinary people, will not show up to share in the struggles of the poor. And if they do, it is often gifts they themselves can’t accept.
This heartbreaking reality repeats itself every year. The powerful turn emotionless and indifferent, forgetting that they once relied on the very hands they now neglect. Yet, when elections come, they shamelessly return to these same communities, seeking votes and pledges of loyalty.
Ironically, the little help the poor receive during this festive season often comes not from their own leaders, but from ordinary citizens with kind hearts or foreign businesspeople who understand the value of giving back.
This Independence Day, let us be different. Be kind. Be humble. Be generous. Remember that true happiness is incomplete when those around you are in pain and despair.
Visit the poor this season. Share with them. Help them feel the joy of independence. Because in lifting others, we lift ourselves as a nation.
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