This first half of 2013 has had the most unprecedented events of any year I’ve witnessed…It seems everything has picked up an intensity all of its own. There are more suicides, bomb/grenade attacks, road accidents, striking workers, teen truancy, kidnappings, untimely deaths (mostly cancer related) – not to mention, the expectations of a nation that’s just come through a tumultuous election period.
The soul can grow weary just from the constant bombardment.
Emotional overload. One wants a break…so I go away..in my mind’s eye, even as I anticipate the actual physical ramifications of a tired, soul that has received so much feedback from so many quarters. And eventually, if this state of affairs doesn’t pan out and level out, the mwananchi’s (citizen) psyche may be dulled.
Just this week, being the 4th week in a Nationwide Teachers strike, the parents with students in the public school system have really taken a hit. The reasons for the educators not turning up in class is that certain agreed allowances, promised way back, have not been realised to date. News has been rife of some of these affected students now patroning pubs and clubs in the seedier parts of the city, in search of various other forms of entertainment. Some parents have been left dumbfounded at this rebellious behavior, ‘unbecoming’ of seed they have been nurturing-bears no semblance to their value systems whatsoever; others appear helpless and are calling on the government to step in and assist…while others, calling for the teachers to end their selfish agenda and take their children back in.
Following hot on the heels of that saga, some 12 students lose their lives (alongside 4 of their teachers), in a needless road accident, while on a school outing. Parents who had children alive that morning now forced to face the grim spectre of sudden death, certificates for ones who had such promise ahead of them, sorrow too soon to be accepted into one’s bosom. How do you grieve and let go of such a young soul lost through such devastating circumstances? The parental grief tore at my heart strings…didn’t even want to contemplate what I’d have done to the school administration of the ill-fated & overloaded school bus.
Then the stories of extramarital affairs…that tear homes and families apart (even as the public jeers/cheers/vilifies), depending on which side of the divide you stand. Pain throbs in human hearts..mankind silently goes about their lives. Some turn to poke at the sore, giving their unqualified & unsolicited explanations of why this and that has happened to so-and-so.
Social media at its roughest, on souls that earnestly need understanding, compassion, healing, privacy…Society seems to be ‘going to the dogs’ – no pun intended. Children are involved people. Mind the children…adult hearts may get over the other party but these kids have bonds connected on both sides. Won’t they more than likely perpetuate the same again in their generation? If that’s all they’ve experienced of a marriage, what lesson saves them from the same pitfall in future, if no one actively steps in to mentor? Could they become angry and bitter at the opposite sex, perhaps? Could they execute payback for that mum or dad did to me when I had no choice in the matter)? I wasn’t allowed to be part of that conversation so that my say could be effected, yet my destiny was wrapped up in a divorce decree.
People are being stressed out…and we can see the evidence in the response of the populace. You almost get a sense of overwhelming weight on one’s mind, where people aren’t equipped to cope very well. Life seems to be dishing out too heavy a serving. The atmosphere is pungent with moral rot, apathy, hopelessness, helplessness, laissez-faire attitudes.
Yet, surprisingly, you and I still have a responsibility for how all this works out. Yes, we do. Starting with our own immediate space, we can choose to change it to a positive setting…one person at a time. Does that child temporarily out of school need more active and vigilant mentoring (perhaps from a hand that isn’t too harsh in meeting out punishment at the slightest error; could that decision maker in the Ministry of Finance/Labour/Executive sit and bring solutions that factor in the broader spectrum of Kenya’s population – all who deserve that helping hand in meeting life’s daily needs (instead of still heavily lining the pockets of the already affluent); cold your business idea be the propeller for offering employment to the youth in your estate who have been basking in the sun like lizards, awaiting hand-outs or ‘piga ngeta’ (violent theft, by first strangling the victim to release their possessions) when no one pays attention to their demands.
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Christine is passionate about working with high achieving women who are not where they want to be. She teaches them how to communicate with Confidence and Clarity towards Personal Fulfillment, Living Passionately and impacting their world. An Events Management Consultant and Motivational Speaker, she is an avid reader and enjoys making friends, travelling, the theatrical arts and cookery. "Entertainia" is her middle name...