A Beautiful Republic

There was a time in our societies when the responsibility to make progress rested on the shoulders of a single individual. That head determined our traditions, way of life and even our economy. In some cases we were the commodities of an industrious trade as long as this individual decreed it so and determined that it was the only course to progress. The African society was not complex and simple to understand then; we knew our position and dared never to oppose that authority of the decreeing fellow. 

Then came the western civilization with its involving kind of leadership, they spoke of things like democracy, voting and even opposition. Such concepts were blasphemous to the African citizen, for a former commodity of trade to know that there was a way he could choose against the owner of the trade was indeed farfetched. 

Even though this system was great in the sense that it handed much of the power back to us, its introduction left us largely uneducated on what it made the rest of us common men. The transition, even though painfully gradual, did not address the mindset of the African society. While the citizens were freed from the bondage of a single monarch, they were not freed from their dependence on that monarch. 

In recent times we have seen a growing strength of what we all call the opposition to the ruling governments in our societies. They have come up to oppose what they think is not right and they have also clearly stated what they think would be right. The challenge is that while they do that ever so passionately, it sounds to a keen ear that they are only pleading to the masses to place them in the seat of the monarch. It is not necessarily an opposition against principles and policies but against individuals and groups of individuals. 

With their ever increasing persuasion the oppositions have rallied citizens behind them to demand for services from governments. And while they have gained a lot of popularity doing so, they have failed to point out to the citizen that keeping a road clean is not necessarily the role of the ruling government, they have failed to help the citizen take responsibility in their communities and of their lives. 

It appears then that we have managed to shift from a demanding monarch to a society that demands for a monarch, which demands for services to be offered by a single individual and in some cases demands for personal favors. 

It is true that the African republic is far from perfect, but even more true is that most the Africans are yet to realize their role in the African republic. We have played this blame and victimizing game for long enough and now is the time to change tactics. Every one of us needs to realize that the government was handed back to us. We are that governments that keeps the roads dirty, that is corrupts, that fails to take children to schools or even make sure that we have proper places of convenience, the government is in our homes and we determine is aura. 

Yes, those in government have lessons to learn too but while they delay to learn, we the people of this republic need to get up and apply the small lessons within our reach. We shall get the government we deserve.

Moving Pieces

Every once in a while we find ourselves on top of a moving something. And when we do we also find that we are static, unable to move in the face of impending danger or for the sake of avoiding the danger. This place where we sometimes find ourselves gives us some things to think about, tests our very construction and challenges us to look at the future with a keener eye. 

The desired position is where everything is controlled by our actions and desires, where we are doing all the steering. We love this because it never leaves us stretched beyond what we want or never challenges us beyond our known intellect. But life does not give that grace too often and for too long. There are times when the ship is moving on still waters and when due to the turmoil of the waters the ship cannot move forward. 

When we consider the kitchens of our grandmothers we shall realize that they attain their value from a set of three stones. Those stones have not moved in tens, perhaps hundreds of years and because of their immobility, a lot has not change and never will until the stones move. Every time we have created a meal we have had to move back to the same stones and cook the same way perhaps the same meal too. 

The mobility of the surface on top of which we sometimes find ourselves is the blessing we need to move forward, to a forward never imagined before. When we decide to embrace the challenge to make a step, with little or no certainty of where our foot is to land, we summon courage and strength previously unknown to us. We make progress happen and we move the boundaries a little further. 

To accept that the pieces will always keep moving, that there are times when we are going to jump to an unseen something, one not seen with the eye, is to embrace the concept of living. With us, there will be certainty and a wave of uncertainty, there will be moments when we are so sure and there will be others when we do not know what to be sure of. In all these moments, to keep our gaze fixed on where we are going is how we shall attain victory. 

The heart knows its home and the way there. Doubt will come in sometimes to discourage us but the road is known to us and when we put on the shoes of courage, we shall embark on this journey with the confidence required.  The further we walk, the longer we keep at this journey of moving into the unseen, the stronger we become, the less the doubts and fear and certainly the better our march.

Our dreams are often the case in which our destiny his kept and while that case is threatening to open many times, all effort dedicated to opening it is a step closer to home, to our kingdom and we should never give up on the quest.

Paintings

Being human is by far the most exciting experience I have had. Not that I could have chosen otherwise but lately I have been thinking of the things that identify all of us as humans and realised that while we have stretched far and wide for descriptions, they have been with us all along.

We see our weaknesses and strengths is unique places, the pause we choose for a picture, the choices we make with our time and money, the words we choose to employ and even the nature of our investments. That is simply the way we are, we are displayed in everything we do and in all we touch. 

In a way, it seems that while we live we make paintings of ourselves and yes we can look to those paintings for explanations. Of course it is much easier to observe those paintings of others and make very thorough descriptions of them than it is to look at ours and see where amendments are needed.

There is a desire to ignore the paintings we make, to blind ourselves to the reality of who we are, who we hate. Our ability to hide from who we really are keeps many of us in circles and cages very much undesired. It is as if to behold ourselves is to die, to be hit with shame so great it would bring the world to an end. 

The beautiful reality however is that to behold ourselves is to fall deeper in love with ourselves, not the mistakes we have made or the accomplishments we have under our belts, but who we simply are. We are endowed with beauty unimaginable, and strength amazing. In each of us, civilized or otherwise lies treasures yet to be tapped. 

There are wells of love on the inside of us, a strange ability to create and see beauty where it is still hidden or/and in some cases is hidden. Who tells us that our children will be wonderful people? We do, we tell ourselves of the beautiful future that will be even when there is no proof that it will be. We rely on our ability to desire good, to love with little or no expectation of good returned. 

But there are times when all we see is darkness, when this ability to create and see beauty is hidden or when we choose to put it aside. In those times we hide from who we are and focus on all the other nothings. When we are tempted to ignore who we are, to avoid our paintings, we should remember that there is beauty in who we have been made and that beauty can turn the dark into light again. 

When we truly see, we learn how to move in the right direction.