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How Do Nations Develop?
Thoughts of a Nigerian witnessing a Chicago Fire Department Intervention
It is Christmas Day, and we are out on the town padded to the neck against the brutal Chicago cold. The time is somewhere between 7 and 8, but the night feels much older. I am 1 of 4 Nigerians, and I am the only tourist — the others are immigrants. While waiting in line with our pop corn & drinks to see the new Matrix movie, a staff of the cinema approaches us and tells us that we need to evacuate the building. The details are vague, but it appears there is a fire incident somewhere in the facility.
As the staff member leaves our crew of four for another cluster, we join the footfall heading down the escalators. The erstwhile scant foyer, was now brimming. Wrapped up in a murmur of our own conversations we all headed out.
Lights. Camera. Action
Out in the cold, distant scream of sirens startle the star-lit night, and lights advancing in blues and reds descend with the cavalcade lighting up a Christmas night. Gleaming red firetrucks turned poured out dutifully armed firefighters on to the pavement. There were scores of them. Paramedics wheeled stretchers out of the arriving ambulances; Policemen re-routed traffic, while commuters followed the unseen hand of the law. The cinema-watching audience…
