By Laura Walubengo-Capital FM
I learnt a pick up line in church this weekend… “Stop!” “What?” “Stop running through my mind…” Yeah.
While I didn’t see the relevance of that statement or the discussion surrounding it, I realised that in the near one and a half years I have not been in the confines of a church – there was something very crucial that had left the four walls of my world – humanity.
For about one hour, we were told to share loving phrases with our ‘neighbours’, and each message was generally about being good, getting good things, and the simple joys of human to human contact.
The pieces started coming together… We as Kenyans, are slowly beginning to lose our humanity. In this case I mean, the quality of being humane; kindness.
Do you remember those days when the thugs used to make sure that the occupants of the house they are about to rob are asleep, and try their best to keep it down so that they don’t wake you up?
In fact, then, crimes were only committed at night. That’s why headlines like “Robbery in broad daylight” used to draw LOADS of attention. Now the impact is quite different. Robbery stories are drawing more and more horror – thieves are stretching their imagination and limits as to what dreadfulness they can afflict on their victims. The brutality is pointless.
University girls are being raped on their way to school, as a by the way. The main intent of the thugs is to rob them, and since they have time, they decide to do other things.
Nowadays, even if you cooperate with the ‘suspects’, you thank God for giving you the chance to get out of that alive. What is that about?
Since poverty is the ‘usual’ reason given for people who commit crimes, what part of poverty could cause such violence? We need to find a way to bring humanity back in our lives, in our society; so that it becomes less easy to shed blood and mistreat our ‘neighbours’.
Let us look for a way to restore our humanity. It is such a man-eat-man society and the need to survive is robbing us of the notion that we do need each other to live in this planet.
Please look for your humanity and bring it back? Jumpstart your humane batteries, take it off the dusty shelves. Eventually, it will be more widespread, acceptable and habitual. You know, just like the way you bribe policemen less?
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