It has been a couple of months since I last posted. Over the time, water, enough to flood our beloved country Kenya, has gone under the bridge.I have been to of the hilltop as well as down into the valley of shadow of despair.....where I think I still am thanks to the flouting Kenyan team at the London Olympics.
To be sincere, I was expecting 12 gold medals from Team Kenya: 800m (men and women), 1500m (men and women), 3000m steeplechase (men and women), 5000m (men and women), 10,000 (men and women) and the marathon (men and women). Unfortunately, were it not for the comic Kemboi and the buoyant Rudisha, we would have signed off without any gold. What was more shocking was to see Kenyans leading for long stretches in the marathon only to lose it at the death to some unknown Ugandan!!!!!!!
Away from the London disappointment, a high point was finally getting an answer to an arithmetic problem after a 16 year! I know you must be wondering why and how one in his right sane mind can take more than a decade and a half to solve one simple arithmetic problem. Well, if you are new, welcome to Kenya! But I know some who have taken longer, 17 or even 18 years....this tedious arithmetic problem is known as 8-4-4! When I started out on a journey that I never knew would take me across the continents and make me travel back in time hundreds of years, my chin was as smooth as Tennessee whiskey, well, sixteen years later, it cuts a forlorn figure of land struck by lightning and thunder after surviving the perils of a tornado or a typhoon! That's how long it took me to get the work done, am just curious, how long did it take you?
One thing though that I truly appreciate when I look back to all those days is the growth in mental stature and intellectuality, not necessarily brought about by the wit of the system but by the wit of how not to be beaten by the system. One thing that I must agree, and hope you too see my perspective on the issue, is the fact that the system is flawed. But the problem is not indeed the flaw of the system but the fact that those in control of the system use its flawed nature as a benchmark of perfectness! Results? Multiflawed society that can only by described mathematically as;
Kenyan Society = e^(∞ flawed)
That brings me to a paradoxical wonder, when, how and why will we straighten our core communal values? When will we have a code of conduct such that we don't scramble for a matatu at the stage and instead wait and board in an orderly respectful manner? When will the unruly driving on the roads ever end? When will we have a courteous enough society where one is humble enough to say 'I'm Sorry....', 'Excuse me....', 'Please...' When will we have visionary politicians of merit and integrity? When will we be conscious of what is ailing us and who will do the diagnosis of it?.....Until that happens, my friend, my thoughts shall be sadness, my appetite shall be sadness, what I wear shall remain not clothes but sadness...woes of a cracking pearl with no mending means!
To be sincere, I was expecting 12 gold medals from Team Kenya: 800m (men and women), 1500m (men and women), 3000m steeplechase (men and women), 5000m (men and women), 10,000 (men and women) and the marathon (men and women). Unfortunately, were it not for the comic Kemboi and the buoyant Rudisha, we would have signed off without any gold. What was more shocking was to see Kenyans leading for long stretches in the marathon only to lose it at the death to some unknown Ugandan!!!!!!!
Away from the London disappointment, a high point was finally getting an answer to an arithmetic problem after a 16 year! I know you must be wondering why and how one in his right sane mind can take more than a decade and a half to solve one simple arithmetic problem. Well, if you are new, welcome to Kenya! But I know some who have taken longer, 17 or even 18 years....this tedious arithmetic problem is known as 8-4-4! When I started out on a journey that I never knew would take me across the continents and make me travel back in time hundreds of years, my chin was as smooth as Tennessee whiskey, well, sixteen years later, it cuts a forlorn figure of land struck by lightning and thunder after surviving the perils of a tornado or a typhoon! That's how long it took me to get the work done, am just curious, how long did it take you?
One thing though that I truly appreciate when I look back to all those days is the growth in mental stature and intellectuality, not necessarily brought about by the wit of the system but by the wit of how not to be beaten by the system. One thing that I must agree, and hope you too see my perspective on the issue, is the fact that the system is flawed. But the problem is not indeed the flaw of the system but the fact that those in control of the system use its flawed nature as a benchmark of perfectness! Results? Multiflawed society that can only by described mathematically as;
Kenyan Society = e^(∞ flawed)
That brings me to a paradoxical wonder, when, how and why will we straighten our core communal values? When will we have a code of conduct such that we don't scramble for a matatu at the stage and instead wait and board in an orderly respectful manner? When will the unruly driving on the roads ever end? When will we have a courteous enough society where one is humble enough to say 'I'm Sorry....', 'Excuse me....', 'Please...' When will we have visionary politicians of merit and integrity? When will we be conscious of what is ailing us and who will do the diagnosis of it?.....Until that happens, my friend, my thoughts shall be sadness, my appetite shall be sadness, what I wear shall remain not clothes but sadness...woes of a cracking pearl with no mending means!
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