We have become so good at crying foul and passing the buck such that we are now blind to our obligations. We seem to find it easy to blame our problems on our upbringing yet our poor parents did their outmost best to make us people of reckon. We seem content to blame the regulators for meting out punitive measures on us yet none held a gun to us when we drove through the red lights. It seems the easiest thing to do is – blame, accuse, revile, fault find and find everyone guilty – except ourselves.
Hiding behind a finger has a number of problems. It is either you diminish yourself to the size of the finger to remain hidden or obviously make a foolish spectacle out of yourself, or you alternately continue using the index finger to point at every one yet the same accusations are being pointed at you by the proverbial thumb. All such is in vain as no problem will be solved but more energy and time will be wasted.
We live in a dimension where it is easier to do the wrong thing than toe the line. The dimensions make it difficult for those who want to walk the path of integrity to thrive. The dispensations strangle those that would be the voice of reason and the populace seems to believe that common sense is only for fools.
This dimension makes us bend rules and pull wool on even ourselves. We sink low ethically to make a few cents and hope to wake up and wash away the stench tomorrow. I have seen the frustration and near desperation on the faces of people who believe in doing the right thing when the scum of the earth thrive by doing wrong. I know the pain of having to toe the line and be told that you will die poor for refusing to dine with the devil. I know many who groan and pray everyday that goodness and faithfulness might once again be the standard of measure for the living societies.
If we are not going to make it good for ourselves then we owe it to the future generation.
We owe it to our children not to grow up believing that money can be the substitute of lost affection.
We owe to our children to know that fidelity is not a myth.
We owe it to our future generations to know that all can be got through the right channels and that bribery is abhorrent both to the giver and receiver.
We owe to our future generations to know that man can, and is able, to work for his bread and not survive by spilling blood and starving the widowed and orphaned.
We owe it to the future people that they can have spouses who will love them fully without having to sneak in darkness to the nearest mupostori with their underwear so as to tame their wayward ways.
We owe it to the future people to know that ill-gotten riches bear many ills, fear, insecurity and enslave the thief to the robbers’ chief for life (talk of selling souls to the devil).
We owe it to our future to hold the dignity pole and chose to be different even if it means being reviled by fools. In my book honour and dignity from a thief is akin to walking naked and making yourself believe that the masses staring at you are cheering.
I have not given up on our generation (read myself). I am convinced I can walk a straighter path (is there such a word?); I am convinced I can run a race without cutting corners and get what I deserve. I believe that ethnicity and the evils that come with it should not be the measuring rod of dispensing food at the table; I am convinced that honesty and integrity build a better nation than deception, disguise and disgrace hence I will not give up.
Tomorrow, as the sun rises, we owe it not only to the future people but also ourselves to make a better people out of us.