MUTISYA: The Covid-19 storm will pass

What you need to know:

  • We pray for those occupying offices and desks of leadership; different experts tasked with keeping our futures safe, to be granted wisdom, foresight and safety to lead us well.
  • The faiths, which some uphold in our societies, remind us of the peace that surpasses all human understanding. 

It is difficult, during uncertain times, to believe that we were born for a time like this. The truth of the matter is, we have tonnes of problems. The world, and life itself, can be such an intimidating tower, dwarfing the dreams and aspirations of many.

From rising unemployment, moral lapses in leadership, expensive quality healthcare, locust invasion among others, there doesn’t seem to be an end to it. It appears that besides such crises providing headlines, there is a weariness and hopelessness that is gradually eating the public. This could explain why such reports, besides spurring debate, have a short shelf life in the minds of Kenyans, and rarely do they result in the masses demanding for change.

Kenyans are overwhelmed with many issues, and so if they have to choose between thinking about sustaining their jobs, medical cover for their kids or elderly parents, and the next big exposé, well...you have the answer.

WILL GET COMPLICATED

My view about challenges in the global and national spheres is that the problems are likely to get fewer, but even more complicated. And yet it is not the tragedy of such calamities that is worrying, but the deafening silence from those with the heart of compassion and reason. They form the majority, but they are quiet. They’ll watch fear and misinformation thriving, but they’ll quietly, or to their neighbours, attack the perpetrators and stay comfortable in their bubbles. So you stride into social media, and the content shared is either misleading, insensitive or a sign of misplaced priorities in a season of uncertainty.

Going, not gone, are the days when voices from leaders could instantly calm panic and anxiety. Their jobs for instance have become increasingly polarising and every statement made is viewed in terms of politics or just another day in the office. In addition to this, all the available alternative sources of information produce too much noise to be silenced by an informative presser, or an authoritative statement in a PDF document.

It is also debatable the level of confidence inspired by a president’s speech during a storm, a manager’s to a group of workers about a looming disruption that might render redundant their work, or a head of a learning institution forced by a pandemic to shut down its gates telling potential graduates that their academic calendar will not be disrupted.

NOBODY WAKES UP HOPING TO FAIL

I have always held the firm belief that there is no leader whether in government, in your office, or in your house, who wakes up every day joyfully hoping to fail. That, what you might define as incompetence or laziness could perhaps be your boss trying to figure it out. Unlike those of us on the terraces, their mistakes are more exhibited. And anyway, isn’t it easier to criticise than to actually be in the arena?

This, therefore shows us that sustainable hope can only come from the local level, then the voices coming from leaders and the media can complement. Reversing this process will only continue to breed false news, despair and delays in progress.

I was speaking to my grandmother on phone and I asked her if the locusts had eventually invaded the village, and she emphatically told me, “No!! We serve a BIG Jesus!!” I laughed, and she laughed too.

I guess I laughed because I expected a different reaction. I might have wondered whether she viewed her faith as the silver bullet to all troubles. Her attitude could have been easily misinterpreted as being detached from the realities of a world in chaos. Or that her aging eyes have seen more personal and natural disasters than my millennial ones.

However, she’s aware of everything happening. I figured that, through all her decades, she has watched and at times experienced very trying times. She could have at times, came across challenges that refused to miraculously fade away after crying up to the heavens.

At her age, she’s visibly aware of the fact that there is a limit to how much one can do, believe or even live, and yet she refuses to simply give into the mortality because no one knows how much is how much. In that moment, I was numb to all that was happening on TV and on social media.

With her words, as an ordinary citizen, she unknowingly inspired me that everything will in the end be alright despite what one goes through. Hope can be found in the most unexpected of places, and yes, not all great leaders are famous. There is power in being ordinary too.

This is why as an ordinary citizen, I refuse to keep quiet in my small world while agents of fear and division continue to thrive and poison the national spirit. The problems we face today are only but a part of several others which will be thrown at us. That is why our determination needs to be strong. Resilience.

It took a man fighting serious physical obstacles to be courageous enough to tell a nation in despair that the only thing they had to fear, was fear itself.

If there is anything that this pandemic has reminded a world that is steadily embracing isolationist views, is that we are in this together. We shall overcome. It’ll be okay.

It takes the hardest of times to bring out the greatest men/women of a generation. This greatness is defined by oneness. That, we don’t ridicule those in panic shopping, while ignoring that it’s the same ‘me-me-me’ attitude that widens the rich-poor gap, and contributes to the decisions made regarding the schools we take our kids, the places we choose to live in, the choice of whether to vote, the health insurance we subscribe to and the preferable means of transport.

Everyone is just looking out for their own interests, a culture that hasn’t arrived yesterday. Instead, let’s correct them by giving them much information about the communal effort needed to fight this virus.

And please, let’s also avoid fighting over the role of God in solving our problems. None of us is God. God can only be experienced, and so people will have different understandings of how much He can do.

We pray for those occupying offices and desks of leadership; different experts tasked with keeping our futures safe, to be granted wisdom, foresight and safety to lead us well.

The faiths, which some uphold in our societies, remind us of the peace that surpasses all human understanding. This peace doesn’t ignore the presence of fear, but it refuses to choke on it.

May that peace be with you.

 

Joshua Mutisya is an ordinary citizen.