Since there is good in bad, let’s cultivate the goodness in us all

Rowdy youths rough up one of Seme MP James Nyikal's campaign managers in Kisumu on May 5, 2017. PHOTO | TONNY OMONDI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • We forget that polarity is imprinted in nature itself – light and darkness, right and left, male and female.
  • For the safest depository of a nation’s ultimate power is wananchi.
  • Whenever a life is taken in an act of violence or in response to it, the entire nation is degraded.

Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) told us: There is good in bad; and, the more we cultivate the goodness within us, the more we recognise the good in others.

Conversely, we will incessantly be searching for flaws.

We forget that polarity is imprinted in nature itself – light and darkness, right and left, male and female.

Thus, we complain because rose bushes have thorns, instead of rejoicing because thorn bushes have roses.

Considering the political events in Kenya, let us recognise the ‘rose’ in the ‘thorn bush’ by noting that there is hope that we can elect our leaders in relative peace.

PARTY PRIMARIES

And that all those who participated in the party primaries deserve to be commended.

The evolution of our democracy has been uneven. It has been contentious and at times bloody.

For every two steps forward, it felt like we took a step back. Nonetheless, Kenya’s long sweep has been defined by a forward motion, a constant widening of our founding creed of oneness.

This is our “rose” in the “thorn bush”. Today, there is a possibility of finding amongst the nominees leadership that will recognise the simple but powerful truth that Kenya needs each one of us.

FALSE ETHNIC DISTINCTIONS

For the safest depository of a nation’s ultimate power is wananchi.

That truth will enable us to admit the vanity of our false ethnic distinctions and learn to find personal advancement in the search for the betterment of all.

It will make us admit that our children’s future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others.

And that our life on this earth can neither be ennobled nor enriched by hatred.

Political violence begets violence. It is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and, multiplies instead of indemnifying losses as it adds deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

SUPERFICIAL DIFFERENCES

Those who use violence-laden rhetoric, suggesting harm to others, even if they do not act on it themselves, not only make Kenya unsafe, but they also do a disservice to the very cause of ‘fairness’ that they claim to promote.

Similarly, those who preach non-violence in public, but their very conduct in private exudes barbarity, poison relations between us.

For, when we teach Kenyans that the other is a lesser being because of superficial differences, then we also learn to confront fellow citizens as enemies to be subjugated.

Likewise, those who exhibit indifference, inertia and expediency, propagate a genre of violence that is slower but just as deadly as an arrow-shot.

For their inaction only fashions our country in such a way that Kenyans live with sanctimonious piety and crippling fear.

POLITICAL VIOLENCE

It builds a society where self-serving rifts inevitably become the masters of our national psyche.

To replace the old paradigm of political violence with a new understanding, we must be soldiers of peace who can do more than preach to the choir.

It means avoiding not only external violence, but also internal violence of spirit.

So, we not only refuse to shoot our opponent, but also we refuse to hate him.

Towards this end, let us open our hearts to each other, stand in each other’s shoes and look at the world through each other’s eyes.

NATION DEGRADED

We need to keep in mind the fact that whenever a life is taken in an act of violence or in response to it, the entire nation is degraded.

That is the plain and godly truth. For, anytime we violate the fabric of life which another being has punctiliously woven, we desecrate our common humanity and contaminate our claim to civilisation.

In sum, let us release our fingers from the fists of hostility and drop the machetes of ill-will from our hands.

Let us allow the air of love to cool our palms, which will ensure that the aged walk into evenings of peace; and childhood dreams are not awakened by nightmares of abuse.

Only then will the rapacious storms of happiness flow from Namanga to Lokitaung and from Rusinga Island to Liboi.

Prof Kibicho is the author of, among other books, Sex Tourism in Africa and Traditional Martial Arts. [email protected] Twitter: KibichoWanjohi@com