What harsh truths do we choose as a society to ignore? Isn’t it time societal expectations in the larger parts of Africa changed?
Hi, there! It’s a sure thing to be back after a much unexpected break.
During this covid-19 pandemic era, I found myself unable to control so many thoughts that came gushing through my tensed up mind in the wake of outbreak. A number of them were actually questions based on the realization that had just hit me, that all humans were being given a second chance to re-live a more justifiable life than most had lived prior to the corona attack.
Pardon me if I seem not to make any sense at this point, but trust me I will eventually.
See, before this covid-19 pandemic hit us, we only knew of people living with terminal illnesses to be primarily the ones given a second chance to live, if at all they escaped death. Not a very pleasant topic to discuss, right?
Indeed a harsh truth that we prefer to ignore.
Did it ever occur to you that going through this covid-19 pandemic era is like passing through a second channel of life, whether asymptomatic or not?
Just being alive today is a sure sign that most of us are living by chance. Are you taking this for granted?
The mere fact that you and I, wake up and go about our businesses with some small piece of cloth across our faces, breathing in the same air that someone else has exhaled; whether next to you or 1.5 metres across you and still show no signs of being infected by Covid 19, should exhort a ‘Lord send me- I will go!’ from you.
Really, we are not lucky. We are blessed. Blessed to live a more purposeful life.
It’s time to call a spade a spade and not a big spoon. It’s now time to actually lie on the bed we have been making ever since we deemed ourselves ‘schooled’.
It is time we applied what we have believed all along- That there is life after death; irrespective of our religious backgrounds. So, since it is there, we are obligated to execute our commissions on this planet before time is nigh.
Harsh truth. One that we might choose to ignore.
Running away from the ‘wake call’; to tighten our life belts and make a dash for living and not existing, for being more human than puppets among other diversifications of individual commissions whilst on earth, will simply not make sense presently!
Can we try to be more sensitive to other people’s needs? Can we stop and take a good look at the trees, flowers in our compounds and think of something that they could be in need of? Shall we try our best to visit the abandoned elderly living next door and offer to help run errands, fix a meal or assist clean up?
It is hard to accept the harsh truth. We prefer to ignore it. But see, right now, we cannot afford to do so! We are living in the second channel of life. We lose it, we might be done. Why risk it?
Lets’ revise our social norms and expectations, just in case there will be no third chance in the near future.
I have kept my promise. To make sense eventually. Stay Safe.
Sheila Munguti is a writer and a teacher. She hails from Kenya and is passionate about changing the negative misconceptions of the African continent as well as re-telling the African story from her own eyes. She lives in Mombasa, Kenya.
